Patents Examined by Daniel L Murphy
  • Patent number: 11543488
    Abstract: An optical safety sensor is inexpensively implemented. An optical safety sensor includes: a plurality of light projectors/receivers (a first light projector/receiver and a second light projector/receiver), which includes light projecting portions and light receiving portions; distance measurement portions, which measure distances using the time from light projecting to light receiving; and detection portions, which detect, based on measurement results, an abnormality occurring in any one of the plurality of light projectors/receivers; each of the light receiving portion provided in the plurality of light projectors/receivers receives reflected light caused by the light projected from the light projecting portions of all the plurality of light projectors/receivers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2023
    Assignee: OMRON Corporation
    Inventors: Xiaoguang Ning, Toshiyuki Higuchi
  • Patent number: 11536838
    Abstract: The invention relates to a detection device (4) for a motor vehicle (1) for detecting a distance (x1) of an object (O1) in a surrounding region (5) of the motor vehicle (1) from the motor vehicle (1), comprising an emitting unit (8), which is designed to emit a light beam (9) and to scan the surrounding region (5) by orienting the light beam (9) along predetermined emission angles (10), and comprising a receiving unit (11) having at least two receiving elements (16), which are designed to receive a part (12) of the light beam (9) reflected on the object (O1), to detect the distance (x1) on the basis of a duration between the emission of the light beam (9) and the reception of the reflected part (12) of the light beam (9), and to detect a reception angle (13), at which the reflected part (12) of the light beam (9) from the surrounding region (5) is incident on the receiving unit (11), wherein the receiving unit (11) is designed to detect a deviation (17) between the emission angle (10) of the light beam (9) an
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2022
    Assignee: Valeo Schalter und Sensoren GmbH
    Inventors: Jan Simon, Peter Horvath, Thomas Schuler
  • Patent number: 11536803
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a lidar system includes a light source configured to emit multiple optical signals directed into a field of regard of the lidar system. The optical signals include a first optical signal and a second optical signal, where the second optical signal is emitted a particular time interval after the first optical signal is emitted. The lidar system also includes a receiver configured to detect a received optical signal that includes a portion of the emitted first or second optical signal that is scattered by a target located a distance from the lidar system. The received optical signal is detected after the second optical signal is emitted. The receiver includes a first detector configured to detect a first portion of the received optical signal and a second detector configured to detect a second portion of the received optical signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2022
    Assignee: Luminar, LLC
    Inventors: Stephen D. Gaalema, Mark A. Drummer, Stephen L. Mielke, Jason M. Eichenholz
  • Patent number: 11536834
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to limitation of noise on light detectors using an aperture. One example embodiment includes a system. The system includes a lens disposed relative to a scene and configured to focus light from the scene onto a focal plane. The system also includes an aperture defined within an opaque material disposed at the focal plane of the lens. The aperture has a cross-sectional area. In addition, the system includes an array of light detectors disposed on a side of the focal plane opposite the lens and configured to intercept and detect diverging light focused by the lens and transmitted through the aperture. A cross-sectional area of the array of light detectors that intercepts the diverging light is greater than the cross-sectional area of the aperture.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2022
    Assignee: Waymo LLC
    Inventors: Pierre-Yves Droz, Blaise Gassend, Caner Onal, David Hutchison
  • Patent number: 11536544
    Abstract: A target tracking system and method of operation can include: generating data based on a detection of a shock wave of a bullet by target microphones, the target microphones including an offset target microphone; wirelessly transmitting the data with a target transceiver communicatively connected to the target microphones; determining a bullet speed at the target microphones based on the shock wave detected by the offset target microphone with a processor; and determining a shot placement of the bullet relative to the target microphones with the processor, the processor communicatively connected to the target transceiver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 14, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2022
    Inventor: Jon Paul Allen
  • Patent number: 11531092
    Abstract: A laser scanning sensor includes a laser light-emitting element to emit a pulse laser beam, a light-receiving element to receive a returned reflected beam, a rotary polygon mirror having a plurality of reflecting surfaces to change the travelling direction of the pulse laser beam, and a drive motor to rotate the rotary polygon mirror in a predetermined direction. The sensor also includes an encoder to detect the rotation status of the rotary polygon mirror and to generate a reference signal and trigger signals for the respective reflecting surfaces, and a control/calculation unit to produce a projection pulse train in a specific pulse cycle after a delay time from the generation of a trigger signal for each of the reflecting surfaces, and to acquire distance information per pulse, based on the time after the start of emission of the pulse laser beam before the return of the reflected beam.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2022
    Assignee: OPTEX CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Masashi Iwasawa, Keisuke Katsumi, Seongho Cho
  • Patent number: 11525895
    Abstract: A detecting system is provided for detecting distant objects. The system includes a light source configured to emit light pulses towards a distant object, the light pulses are being polarized at a predefined polarization angle; a detector configured to detect at least a portion of the light pulses reflected from the distant objects; and at least one linear polarizer configured for polarizing light at the polarization angle and being so disposed with respect to the detector such that the light reaching the detector passes through the linear polarizer and is polarized at the polarization angle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2022
    Inventors: Eyal Yatskan, Nadav Haas
  • Patent number: 11522330
    Abstract: Systems and methods are described that relate to a scanning laser system configured to emit laser light and an interlock circuit communicatively coupled to the scanning laser system. The interlock circuit may carry out certain operations. The operations include, as the scanning laser system emits laser light into one or more regions of an environment around the scanning laser system, determining a respective predicted dosage amount for each region based on the emitted laser light. The operations further include detecting an interlock condition. The interlock condition includes a predicted dosage amount for at least one region being greater than a threshold dose. In response to detecting the interlock condition, the operations include controlling the scanning laser system to reduce a subsequent dosage amount in the at least one region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 20, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 6, 2022
    Assignee: Waymo LLC
    Inventor: Mark Shand
  • Patent number: 11513198
    Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed to identify a presence of a volumetric medium in an environment associated with a LIDAR system. In some implementations, the LIDAR system may emit a light pulse into the environment, receive a return light pulse corresponding to reflection of the emitted light pulse by a surface in the environment, and determine a pulse width of the received light pulse. The LIDAR system may compare the determined pulse width with a reference pulse width, and determine an amount of pulse elongation of the received light pulse. The LIDAR system may classify the surface as either an object to be avoided by a vehicle or as air particulates associated with the volumetric medium based, at least in part, on the determined amount of pulse elongation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 4, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2022
    Assignee: Waymo LLC
    Inventors: Luke Wachter, Pierre-Yves Droz, Clayton Kunz
  • Patent number: 11513223
    Abstract: A ladar system and related method are disclosed where the system includes a ladar transmitter and a ladar receiver. The ladar transmitter transmits ladar pulses into a field of view, and the ladar receiver receives ladar pulse returns from objects in the field of view. The ladar receiver comprises a cross-receiver, the cross-receiver comprising a first 1D array of photodetector cells and a second 1D array of photodetector cells that are oriented differently relative to each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2022
    Assignee: AEYE, Inc.
    Inventors: Luis Carlos Dussan, Allan Steinhardt, Jordan Spencer Greene, Allen Chi-Luen Wang, Nitin Vyas, Daryoosh Rejaly
  • Patent number: 11513201
    Abstract: A light detection and ranging (LIDAR) system to transmit optical beams including at least up-chirp frequency and at least one down-chirp frequency toward targets in a field of view of the LIDAR system and receive returned signals of the up-chirp and the down-chirp as reflected from the targets. The LIDAR system may perform IQ processing on one or more returned signals to generate baseband signals in the frequency domain of the returned signals during the at least one up-chirp and the at least one down-chirp. The baseband signal includes a first set of peaks associated with the at least one up-chirp frequency and a second set of peaks associated with the at least one down-chirp frequency. The LIDAR system determines the target location using the first set of peaks and the second set of peaks.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2022
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2022
    Assignee: Aeva, Inc.
    Inventors: Esha John, Jose Krause Perin, Kumar Bhargav Viswanatha, Rajendra Tushar Moorti, James Nakamura, Carlo Giustini
  • Patent number: 11506767
    Abstract: A method for scanning and measuring using a 3D measurement device is provided. The method includes providing the 3D measurement device having a light emitter, a light receiver and a command and evaluation device. The 3D measurement device is further includes a first near-field communication (NFC) device having a first antenna. A second NFC device having a second antenna is positioned adjacent the 3D measurement device. An NFC link is established between the first NFC device and the 3D measurement device. An identifier is transmitted from the second NFC device to the 3D measurement device. It is determined that the second NFC device is authorized to communicate with the 3D measurement device. Commands are transferred to the 3D measurement device from the second NFC device based at least in part on the determination that the second NFC device is authorized to communicate with the 3D measurement device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 8, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2022
    Assignee: FARO TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventors: Reinhard Becker, Martin Ossig, Andreas Ditte
  • Patent number: 11501562
    Abstract: An electronic face-identification device, which performs face scanning with ultrasonic waves, includes a housing and an ultrasound device disposed within the housing. The ultrasound device may be configured to transmit ultrasonic waves through air to a face and scan the face with the ultrasonic waves, to receive reflected waves through the air corresponding to reflections of the ultrasonic waves from the face, and to perform a recognition process for the face based on reflections of the ultrasonic waves from the face. The ultrasound device may include a plurality of ultrasound transducers, and electronic circuitry configured to transmit signals to the ultrasound transducers and receive signals from the ultrasound transducers. The face-identification device may be incorporated into various electronic equipment, such as hand-held equipment in the form of smartphones and tablet computers, as well as in larger scale installations at airports, workplace entryways, and the like.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2022
    Assignee: BFLY OPERATIONS, INC.
    Inventors: Tyler S. Ralston, Jonathan M. Rothberg, Jianwei Liu
  • Patent number: 11500089
    Abstract: Disclosed are a control method and a control device for an ultrasonic receiving device. The control method includes: determining a target receiver of the ultrasonic receiving device, where the ultrasonic receiving device includes at least two ultrasonic receivers, and the target receiver is one of the at least two ultrasonic receivers on the ultrasonic receiving device that is the nearest to an ultrasonic transmitting device; and controlling a state of each of the at least two ultrasonic receivers on the ultrasonic receiving device based on the determined target receiver. Thus, the ultrasonic ranging error is reduced, and the accuracy of measurement is improved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2022
    Assignee: Nolo Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yiming Zhang, Jianing Zhang, Daoning Zhang
  • Patent number: 11493617
    Abstract: A method for recognizing a noise represented in a receive signal of an ultrasonic sensor. A characteristic spectrum of the noise is compared with a noise spectrum of the receive signal, the noise spectrum including at least two noise levels determined in different frequency bands of the receive signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2022
    Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventors: Simon Weissenmayer, Michael Schumann, Timo Koenig, Christian Beer, Philipp Sauer
  • Patent number: 11493651
    Abstract: A method for a marine seismic survey can include towing streamers that are spaced apart in a cross-line direction by a streamer separation (L) and towing seismic source elements that are spaced apart in the cross-line direction by a source separation based on an integer (k), an inverse of a quantity of the seismic source elements (1/S), and the streamer separation as represented by (k+1/S)L. The seismic source elements can be actuated and seismic signals can be detected at each of a plurality of receivers on the streamers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2022
    Assignee: PGS Geophysical AS
    Inventor: Andrew Samuel Long
  • Patent number: 11480700
    Abstract: Systems and methods for reducing survey time while enhancing acquired seismic data quality are provided. Data corresponding to plural source lines are acquired simultaneously, using sources at cross-line distance at least equal to their illumination width, with at least one source being towed above a streamer spread.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 25, 2022
    Assignee: SERCEL SAS
    Inventors: Risto Siliqi, Damien Grenie, Vetle Vinje, Fabrice Mandroux
  • Patent number: 11474255
    Abstract: In one embodiment, example systems and methods related to a manner of optimizing LiDAR sensor placement on autonomous vehicles are provided. A range-of-interest is defined for the autonomous vehicle that includes the distances from which the autonomous vehicle is interested in collecting sensor data. The range-of-interest is segmented into multiple cubes of the same size. For each LiDAR sensor, a shape is determined based on information such as the number of lasers in each LiDAR sensor and the angle associated with each laser. An optimization problem is solved using the determined shape for each LiDAR sensor and the cubes of the range-of-interest to determine the locations to place each LiDAR sensor to maximize the number of cubes that are captured. The optimization problem may further determine the optimal pitch angle and roll angle to use for each LiDAR sensor to maximize the number of cubes that are captured.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 3, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2022
    Assignee: THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
    Inventors: Ding Zhao, Senyu Mou, Yan Chang, Wenshuo Wang
  • Patent number: 11474194
    Abstract: A method, device and computer program product for controlling the device by tracking a movement of a hand or other objects. The device receives acoustic signals. At least a portion of the received signals are transformed into two-dimensional sinusoids whose frequencies are proportional to an angle-of-arrival (AoA) and a propagation distance of the reflected signals. An AoA-distance profile is derived based on signals received from the object by evaluating frequencies of the two-dimensional sinusoids. Then, an AoA-distance pair is derived from the AoA-distance profile. A current location of the object is determined based on the estimated AoA-distance pair. The device then performs a command in response to detecting that the user moved to perform the command based on prior and current locations of the object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2022
    Assignee: Board of Regents, The University of Texas System
    Inventors: Lili Qiu, Wenguang Mao
  • Patent number: 11474271
    Abstract: A sonic logging method is provided that transmits acoustic signals using a high order acoustic source and processes waveform data to identify a set of arrival events and time picks by automatic and/or manual methods. Ray tracing inversion is carried out for each arrival event over a number of possible raypath types that include at least one polarized shear raypath type to determine two-dimensional reflector positions and predicted inclination angles of the arrival event for the possible raypath types. One or more three-dimensional slowness-time coherence representations are generated for the arrival event and raypath type(s) and evaluated to determine azimuth, orientation and raypath type of a corresponding reflector. The method outputs a three-dimensional position and orientation for at least one reflector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2022
    Assignee: SCHLUMBERGER TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION
    Inventor: Nicholas Norman Bennett