Patents by Inventor Alex Rivas

Alex Rivas has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 12055659
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to devices, lidar systems, and vehicles that include optical redirectors. An example lidar system includes a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter includes at least one light-emitter device configured to transmit emission light into an environment of the lidar system. The receiver is configured to detect return light from the environment and includes a plurality of apertures, a plurality of photodetectors, and a plurality of optical redirector elements. Each optical redirector element is configured to optically couple a respective portion of return light from a respective aperture to at least one photodetector of the plurality of photodetectors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 26, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 6, 2024
    Assignee: Waymo LLC
    Inventors: Blaise Gassend, David Duff, Pierre-Yves Droz, Paul Karplus, Jason Watson, Michael Brickner, Alex Rivas
  • Publication number: 20240118391
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to devices, lidar systems, and vehicles that include optical redirectors. An example lidar system includes a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter includes at least one light-emitter device configured to transmit emission light into an environment. The receiver is configured to detect return light from the environment and includes a plurality of apertures, a plurality of photodetectors, and a plurality of optical redirectors. Each optical redirector is configured to optically couple a respective portion of return light from a respective aperture to at least one photodetector of the plurality of photodetectors. Each optical redirector also has a rotational orientation relative to other optical redirectors such that the redirection paths of optical redirectors that correspond to adjacent apertures are not coplanar with one another.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 14, 2023
    Publication date: April 11, 2024
    Inventors: Blaise Gassend, David Duff, Pierre-Yves Droz, Paul Karplus, Jason Watson, Michael Brickner, Alex Rivas
  • Publication number: 20230194669
    Abstract: An example lidar system includes a housing defining an interior space. The housing includes at least one optical window. The lidar system also includes a rotatable mirror assembly disposed within the interior space. The rotatable mirror assembly includes a transmit mirror portion and a receive mirror portion. The lidar system additionally includes a transmitter disposed within the interior space. The transmitter is configured to emit emission light into an environment of the lidar system along a transmit path. The lidar system also includes a receiver disposed within the interior space. The receiver is configured to detect return light that is received from the environment along a receive path. The lidar system additionally includes at least one optical baffle configured to minimize stray light in the interior space.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 22, 2021
    Publication date: June 22, 2023
    Inventors: Jason Watson, David Duff, Justin Andrade, Blaise Gassend, Alex Bogatko, Alex Rivas, Michael Brickner, Yeh-Jiun Tung, Hui Son
  • Publication number: 20220120877
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to devices, lidar systems, and vehicles that include optical redirectors. An example lidar system includes a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter includes at least one light-emitter device configured to transmit emission light into an environment of the lidar system. The receiver is configured to detect return light from the environment and includes a plurality of apertures, a plurality of photodetectors, and a plurality of optical redirectors. Each optical redirector is configured to optically couple a respective portion of return light from a respective aperture to at least one photodetector of the plurality of photodetectors. At least one of the optical redirectors includes an optically isolating coating.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 30, 2021
    Publication date: April 21, 2022
    Inventors: Blaise Gassend, David Duff, Pierre-Yves Droz, Paul Karplus, Jason Watson, Michael Brickner, Alex Rivas
  • Publication number: 20210199779
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to systems and devices having a rotatable mirror assembly. An example system includes a housing and a rotatable mirror assembly. The rotatable mirror assembly includes a plurality of reflective surfaces, a shaft defining a rotational axis, and a mirror body coupling the plurality of reflective surfaces to the shaft. The mirror body includes a plurality of flexible support members. The rotatable mirror assembly also includes a coupling bracket configured to removably couple the rotatable mirror assembly to the housing. The system also includes a transmitter configured to emit emission light into an environment of the system after interacting with at least one reflective surface of the plurality of reflective surfaces. The system additionally includes a receiver configured to detect return light from the environment after interacting with the at least one reflective surface of the plurality of reflective surfaces.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 26, 2020
    Publication date: July 1, 2021
    Inventors: Blaise Gassend, David Duff, Paul Karplus, Hui Son, Alex Rivas
  • Publication number: 20210199770
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to devices, lidar systems, and vehicles that include optical redirectors. An example lidar system includes a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter includes at least one light-emitter device configured to transmit emission light into an environment of the lidar system. The receiver is configured to detect return light from the environment and includes a plurality of apertures, a plurality of photodetectors, and a plurality of optical redirector elements. Each optical redirector element is configured to optically couple a respective portion of return light from a respective aperture to at least one photodetector of the plurality of photodetectors.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 26, 2020
    Publication date: July 1, 2021
    Inventors: Blaise Gassend, David Duff, Pierre-Yves Droz, Paul Karplus, Jason Watson, Michael Brickner, Alex Rivas
  • Patent number: 10326189
    Abstract: A method includes receiving, through a vertical polarization port of an orthogonal-mode transducer (OMT), a vertical polarized signal from a vertical polarization diplexer, and receiving, through a horizontal polarization port of the OMT, a horizontal polarized signal from a horizontal polarization diplexer. The method also includes receiving, through a common port of the OMT, a circular polarized signal comprising the vertical and horizontal polarized signals. The common waveguide includes a septum polarizer configured to split or combine between the circular polarized signal, and the vertical polarized signal and the horizontal polarized signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 25, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 18, 2019
    Assignee: Google LLC
    Inventors: Toktam Nezakati, Farbod Tabatabai, Siyuan Xin, Benjamin K. Yaffe, Keith Thomas Williams, Eduardo Tinoco, Jose Alex Rivas
  • Publication number: 20180309180
    Abstract: A method includes receiving, through a vertical polarization port of an orthogonal-mode transducer (OMT), a vertical polarized signal from a vertical polarization diplexer, and receiving, through a horizontal polarization port of the OMT, a horizontal polarized signal from a horizontal polarization diplexer. The method also includes receiving, through a common port of the OMT, a circular polarized signal comprising the vertical and horizontal polarized signals. The common waveguide includes a septum polarizer configured to split or combine between the circular polarized signal, and the vertical polarized signal and the horizontal polarized signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 25, 2017
    Publication date: October 25, 2018
    Applicant: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Toktam Nezakati, Farbod Tabatabai, Siyuan Xin, Benjamin K. Yaffe, Keith Thomas Williams, Eduardo Tinoco, Jose Alex Rivas