Patents Examined by John R. Lee
  • Patent number: 11627298
    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 lens tubes that collimate collected photons, 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.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2023
    Assignee: Ouster, Inc.
    Inventors: Angus Pacala, Mark Frichtl
  • Patent number: 11609643
    Abstract: An optical processing apparatus and a light source luminance adjustment method adapted to detect a rotational displacement and a pressing state are provided. The optical processing apparatus includes a light source unit, a processing unit, and an image sensing unit, wherein the processing unit is electrically connected to the light source unit and the image sensing unit. The light source unit provides a beam of light. The processing unit defines a frame rate, defines a plurality of time instants within a time interval, and sets the light source unit to a luminance value at each of the time instants. A length of the time interval is shorter than the reciprocal of the frame rate. The luminance values are different and are within a range. The image sensing unit captures an image by an exposure time length at each of the time instants, wherein the exposure time lengths are the same.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2023
    Assignee: PIXART IMAGING INC.
    Inventors: Chung-Ting Yang, Ching-Lin Chung
  • Patent number: 11609414
    Abstract: Method for calibrating a phase mask in a beam path of an optical device with the steps: the phase mask is actuated successively with different patterns of grey levels, wherein a first grey level of a first quantity of segments remains constant and a second grey level of a second quantity of segments is varied from one pattern to the next, light of the optical device impinges on the phase mask, at least one part of the total intensity of the light in the beam path is measured downstream of the phase mask for the different patterns, and a characteristic of the measured intensity is obtained in dependence on the second grey level, a relationship between the second grey level and a phase shift, being imprinted by the phase mask, is obtained from the characteristic and an actuation of the phase mask is calibrated based on the obtained relationship.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2023
    Assignee: Carl Zeiss Microscopy GmbH
    Inventors: Toni Eichelkraut, Jörg Siebenmorgen
  • Patent number: 11605239
    Abstract: Disclosed are a fingerprint recognition sensor, a manufacturing method, and a display device. The fingerprint recognition sensor includes a base substrate, a thin film transistor, on a side of the base substrate; and a photosensitive element, on a side of the base substrate away from the thin film transistor, the thin film transistor, the base substrate, and the photosensitive element are sequentially stacked in a thickness direction perpendicular to the base substrate, the base substrate includes a conductive structure penetrating through the base substrate in the thickness direction perpendicular to the base substrate, and the photosensitive element is connected with the thin film transistor through the conductive structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2023
    Assignee: BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shipei Li, Ying Zhao, Renquan Gu, Wei He, Huili Wu, Dongsheng Yin, Sheng Xu, Lizhen Zhang, Xuefei Zhao, Fang He, Yupeng Gao
  • Patent number: 11598941
    Abstract: A method for operating a light microscope with structured illumination includes: providing illumination patterns by means of a structuring device which splits impinging light into at least three coherent beam parts which correspond to a ?1., 0., and +1. diffraction orders of light; generating different phases of the illumination patterns by setting different phase values for the beam parts with phase shifters; and recording at least one microscope image for each of the illumination patterns and calculating a high resolution image from the microscope images. Phase shifters are provided not only for the beam parts of the ?1. and +1. diffraction orders but also at least one phase shifter for the beam part of the 0. diffraction order. At least two different phase values ?0 are set with the at least one phase shifter for the 0. diffraction order to provide a plurality of illumination patterns with different phases.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2023
    Assignee: CARL ZEISS MICROSCOPY GmbH
    Inventors: Ralf Netz, Gerhard Krampert
  • Patent number: 11600650
    Abstract: In a photoelectric conversion apparatus including charge storing portions in its imaging region, isolation regions for the charge storing portions include first isolation portion each having a PN junction, and second isolation portions each having an insulator. A second isolation portion is arranged between a charge storing portion and at least a part of a plurality of transistors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2023
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Masahiro Kobayashi, Yuichiro Yamashita
  • Patent number: 11592530
    Abstract: A lidar system includes a laser source, an emission lens configured to collimate and direct a laser beam emitted by the laser source, a receiving lens configured to receive and focus a return laser beam reflected off of one or more objects to a return beam spot at a focal plane of the receiving lens, and a detector including a plurality of photo sensors arranged as an array at the focal plane of the receiving lens. Each photo sensor has a respective sensing area and is configured to receive and detect a respective portion of the return laser beam. The lidar system further includes a processor configured to determine a respective time of flight for each respective portion of the return laser beam, and construct a three-dimensional image of the one or more objects based on the respective time of flight for each respective portion of the return laser beam.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2023
    Assignee: Cepton Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Mark A. McCord, Jun Pei, Dongyi Liao
  • Patent number: 11592584
    Abstract: There may be provided a radiation sensor, that may include multiple semiconductor regions that form a sensing PN junction and a draining PN junction that is located below the sensing PN junction; a bias circuit that is configured to (i) bias the sensing PN junction to maintain a sensing PN junction depletion region of a fixed size during a first sensing period and during a second sensing period, and (i) bias the draining PN junction to form a draining PN junction depletion region of a first size during the first sensing period and of a second size during the second sensing period; and an output circuit that is configured to generate a first output signal that represent sensed radiation out of radiation that impinged on the radiation sensor during the first sensing period, and to generate a second output signal that represent sensed radiation out of radiation impinged on the radiation sensor during the second sensing period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 5, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2023
    Assignee: Tower Semiconductor Ltd.
    Inventor: Amos Fenigstein
  • Patent number: 11579013
    Abstract: An integrated computing element for an optical computing device includes a flexible optical substrate. The integrated computing element also includes at least one optical thin film deposited on a first surface of the flexible optical substrate. The at least one optical thin film is configured to selectively pass fractions of electromagnetic radiation at different wavelengths.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2023
    Assignee: Halliburton Energy Services, Inc.
    Inventors: Jian Li, James M. Price, Bin Dai, Christopher M. Jones, Daniel Stark
  • Patent number: 11581342
    Abstract: An array substrate includes a substrate, a protection layer, and a photodiode. The protection layer is disposed over the substrate, has a single layer-structure, and is provided with a through-hole therein. The photodiode includes a lower electrode, a PN junction and an upper electrode, which are sequentially over the substrate. The PN junction is within the through-hole. The protection layer and the PN junction of the photodiode have a substantially same thickness. The array substrate further includes a thin-film transistor over the substrate. An orthographic projection of an active layer of the thin-film transistor on the substrate does not overlap with an orthographic projection of the PN junction of the photodiode on the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2023
    Assignee: BOE TECHNOLOGY GROUP CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Guoqiang Wang
  • Patent number: 11572990
    Abstract: The present disclosure sets forth a motion sensing outdoor security light with the flexibility of being mounted to either a wall structure or to an eave or ceiling structure. An adjustable spherical motion sensor housing may be provided with the rotationally adjustable outdoor security light, allowing easy adjustment of motion detection ranges under different mounting schemes without comprising the aesthetic design of the light. The adjustable spherical motion sensor housing may also provide an enlarged horizontal field of view for better performance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 2022
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2023
    Assignee: HEATHCO LLC
    Inventors: Miles William McDonald, Kushagra Dixit, Scott Blaise Tylicki, Apollo Paul Paredes, Lionel V. Luu, John Colvin Deaton
  • Patent number: 11567180
    Abstract: One example device comprises a plurality of emitters including at least a first emitter and a second emitter. The first emitter emits light that illuminates a first portion of a field-of-view (FOV) of the device. The second emitter emits light that illuminates a second portion of the FOV. The device also comprises a controller that obtains a scan of the FOV. The controller causes each emitter of the plurality of emitters to emit a respective light pulse during an emission time period associated with the scan. The controller causes the first emitter to emit a first-emitter light pulse at a first-emitter time offset from a start time of the emission time period. The controller causes the second emitter to emit a second-emitter light pulse at a second-emitter time offset from the start time of the emission time period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2023
    Assignee: Waymo LLC
    Inventors: Michael Marx, Pierre-Yves Droz
  • Patent number: 11561130
    Abstract: A system and method with AC coupling that reserves photodiode bandwidth in a biased configuration, allows optimal transimpedance amplifier performance, retains DC signal measurement capability, and does not introduce noise into the balanced detection signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2023
    Assignee: UT-Battelle, LLC
    Inventor: Brian P. Williams
  • Patent number: 11563041
    Abstract: Optimizations are provided for a high dynamic range (HDR) sensor. This sensor is a spatially multiplexed image sensor that includes at least two sets of red, green, and blue (RGB) pixels. Each red pixel in the second set of RGB pixels is positioned proximately and sometimes, adjacently, to at least one red pixel in the first set of RGB pixels. Each green pixel in the second set of RGB pixels is positioned proximately to at least one green pixel in the first set of RGB pixels. Each blue pixel in the second set of RGB pixels is positioned proximately to at least one blue pixel in the first set of RGB pixel. This spatially multiplexed image sensor is able to generate a digital image with reduced motion blurring artifacts.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2023
    Assignee: MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC
    Inventors: Raymond Kirk Price, Kai Zang, Michael Bleyer
  • Patent number: 11561311
    Abstract: An apparatus comprises a distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) optical fiber, a DAS interrogator coupled to the DAS optical fiber, and a connector. The connector couples the DAS interrogator, a first digitizer, and a second digitizer, wherein the first digitizer is to generate a first digitized DAS signal based on an analog DAS signal from the DAS interrogator, and the second digitizer is to generate a second digitized DAS signal based on the analog DAS signal. The apparatus also comprises one or more processors and a machine-readable medium having program code executable to cause the apparatus to simultaneously generate a first set of values that correlate with a first physical property based on the first digitized DAS signal and generating a second set of values that correlate with a second physical property based on the second digitized DAS signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2023
    Assignee: Halliburton Energy Services, Inc.
    Inventors: Michel Joseph LeBlanc, Andreas Ellmauthaler
  • Patent number: 11553118
    Abstract: An imaging apparatus with reduced flare includes an imaging structure including a solid state imaging element (1) and a transparent substrate (2) disposed on the imaging element. The imaging apparatus includes a circuit substrate (7) including a circuit, a spacer (10) including at least one fixing portion (11) that guides the imaging structure to a desired position on the circuit substrate (7) when the imaging structure is mounted on the circuit substrate, and a light absorbing material (13) disposed on at least one side surface of the imaging structure such that that light absorbing material (13) is between the imaging structure and the at least one fixing portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2023
    Assignee: Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation
    Inventors: Katsuji Kimura, Kazumasa Tanida, Fumihiko Hanzawa
  • Patent number: 11546530
    Abstract: An artifact caused by secondary reflection is reduced. An imaging device according to an embodiment includes: a diffuser (110) that converts incident light into scattered light whose diameter is expanded in accordance with a propagation distance and outputs the scattered light; and a light receiver (132) that converts light diffused by the diffuser into an electric signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2023
    Assignee: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Ilya Reshetouski, Atsushi Ito
  • Patent number: 11536592
    Abstract: A controller for use with a position encoder includes one or more motion inputs suitable to couple to motion outputs of the position encoder and a limit input suitable to couple to a limit output of the position encoder. The controller also includes an actuator interface, a command interface, and circuitry coupled to the one or more motion inputs, the limit input, the actuator interface, and the command interface. The circuitry is configured to receive a command through the command interface to move a structural member coupled to the position encoder to a new position and control an actuator through the actuator interface to move the structural member toward the new position. A limit indication is received from the position encoder through the limit input and the controller stops or reverses the movement of the structural member by controlling the actuator in response to receiving the limit indication.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2022
    Assignee: E1ECTR0N, INC.
    Inventor: Scott L. Baker
  • Patent number: 11525780
    Abstract: The invention concerns a method for measuring the concentration of a substance or mixture of substances and/or determining the level in a fluid with intrinsic fluorescence, preferably fuel systems. The invention also refers to the optical device suitable for implementing the method, which comprises a unit which generates light for excitation of the sample; a unit of detection of the signal emitted by the sample and a unit of signal processing. The device and method by which it is implemented also allow the determination of the spatial distribution of the substance or mixture of liquid substances and/or the fluid level in a container. One of the main applications is the measurement of the concentration of oxygen in the fuel tank of aircrafts, based on the measurement of the intrinsic fluorescence of the fuel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2022
    Assignee: INSTITUTO SUPERIOR TÉCNICO
    Inventors: Mário Nuno De Matos Sequeira Berberan E Santos, Liliana Marques Martelo
  • Patent number: 11520775
    Abstract: The multi-parameter data produced via flow cytometry and other biological analyses techniques can generate enormous amounts of data, which can take extensive time and/or computational resources to complete. Embodiments provided herein allow for adaptive sub-sampling of such data prior to analysis, allowing for such analyses to be performed while satisfying certain performance criteria. Such performance criteria may include, for example, keeping the latency of the analysis below a specified duration. This can allow analysis of data to be performed in real time as the data is generated, e.g., as flow cytometry data is generated by a cell counter or other flow cytometry instrument. This can also permit for data analyses to be iteratively developed or improved in less time by adaptively sub-sampling the data prior to re-analysis, so that the total time between iterations is reduced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 6, 2022
    Assignee: Sartorius BioAnalytical Instruments, Inc.
    Inventor: Aaron Kennington