Patents by Inventor Andrew J. Sutton

Andrew J. Sutton 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).

  • Publication number: 20180081061
    Abstract: An electro-optical device includes a laser, which is configured to emit toward a scene pulses of optical radiation. An array of detectors are configured to receive the optical radiation that is reflected from points in the scene and to output signals indicative of respective times of arrival of the received radiation. A controller is coupled to drive the laser to emit a sequence of pulses of the optical radiation toward each of a plurality of points in the scene and to find respective times of flight for the points responsively to the output signals, while controlling a power of the pulses emitted by the laser by counting a number of the detectors outputting the signals in response to each pulse, and reducing the power of a subsequent pulse in the sequence when the number is greater than a predefined threshold.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 10, 2017
    Publication date: March 22, 2018
    Inventors: Shingo Mandai, Cristiano L. Niclass, Richard E. Bills, Moshe Laifenfeld, Mina A. Rezk, Alexander Shpunt, Ron Sokolovsky, Tal Kaitz, Ronen Akerman, Jason D. Mudge, Andrew J. Sutton
  • Publication number: 20180062345
    Abstract: An optical apparatus includes an array of lasers, which are arranged in a grid pattern having a predefined spatial pitch and are configured to emit respective beams of pulses of optical radiation. Projection optics having a selected focal length project the beams toward a target with an angular pitch between the beams defined by the spatial pitch and the focal length. A scanner scans the projected beams over a range of scan angles that is less than twice the angular pitch. Control circuitry drives the lasers and the scanner so that the pulses cover the target with a resolution finer than the angular pitch. A receiver receives and measures a time of flight of the pulses reflected from the target.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 30, 2016
    Publication date: March 1, 2018
    Inventors: Richard E. Bills, Andrew J. Sutton, Cristiano L. Niclass, Mina A. Rezk