Patents by Inventor STEPHEN NESTINGER

STEPHEN NESTINGER 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: 11906670
    Abstract: Methods, apparatus, and systems related to light detection and ranging (LIDAR) are described. In one example aspect, a LIDAR apparatus includes a light emitter configured to generate, according to a first electrical pulse signal, a pulse light signal. The first electrical pulse signal comprises a first set of non-uniformly spaced pulses. The apparatus includes a receiver configured to convert returned light signals from the object into electrical signals and a filtering subsystem in communication with the receiver, configured to receive the electrical signals from the receiver and remove a point from a set of points representing at least a partial surface of the object as noise by determining whether there is a coherence between the point and corresponding neighboring points of the point along at least a first direction and a second direction of the set of points.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 6, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2024
    Assignee: Velodyne Lidar USA, Inc.
    Inventors: Matthew Rekow, Stephen Nestinger, Aaron Chen
  • Publication number: 20210003681
    Abstract: Methods, apparatus, and systems related to light detection and ranging (LIDAR) are described. In one example aspect, a LIDAR apparatus includes a light emitter configured to generate, according to a first electrical pulse signal, a pulse light signal. The first electrical pulse signal comprises a first set of non-uniformly spaced pulses. The apparatus includes a receiver configured to convert returned light signals from the object into electrical signals and a filtering subsystem in communication with the receiver, configured to receive the electrical signals from the receiver and remove a point from a set of points representing at least a partial surface of the object as noise by determining whether there is a coherence between the point and corresponding neighboring points of the point along at least a first direction and a second direction of the set of points.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 6, 2020
    Publication date: January 7, 2021
    Applicant: VELODYNE LIDAR, INC.
    Inventors: Matthew Rekow, Stephen Nestinger, Aaron Chen
  • Publication number: 20200233089
    Abstract: Methods and systems for performing three-dimensional (3-D) LIDAR measurements with multiple illumination beams scanned over a 3-D environment are described herein. In one aspect, illumination light from each LIDAR measurement channel is emitted to the surrounding environment in a different direction by a beam scanning device. The beam scanning device also directs each amount of return measurement light onto a corresponding photodetector. In some embodiments, a beam scanning device includes a scanning mirror rotated in an oscillatory manner about an axis of rotation by an actuator in accordance with command signals generated by a master controller. In some embodiments, the light source and photodetector associated with each LIDAR measurement channel are moved in two dimensions relative to beam shaping optics employed to collimate light emitted from the light source. The relative motion causes the illumination beams to sweep over a range of the 3-D environment under measurement.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 7, 2020
    Publication date: July 23, 2020
    Applicant: VELODYNE LIDAR, INC.
    Inventors: David S. Hall, Pieter J. Kerstens, Matthew Rekow, Stephen Nestinger
  • Publication number: 20200217954
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates generally to systems and methods for generating, processing and correlating data from multiple sensors in an autonomous navigation system, and more particularly to the utilization of configurable and dynamic sensor modules within light detection and ranging systems that enable an improved correlation between sensor data as well as configurability and responsiveness of the system to its surrounding environment.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 7, 2019
    Publication date: July 9, 2020
    Applicant: Velodyne LiDAR, Inc.
    Inventors: David HALL, Anand GOPALAN, Matthew REKOW, Stephen NESTINGER, Tyler BANAS
  • Patent number: 10613203
    Abstract: Methods, apparatus, and systems related to light detection and ranging (LIDAR) are described. In one example aspect, a LIDAR apparatus includes a light emitter configured to generate, according to a first electrical pulse signal, a pulse light signal. The first electrical pulse signal comprises a first set of non-uniformly spaced pulses. The apparatus includes a receiver configured to convert returned light signals from the object into electrical signals and a filtering subsystem in communication with the receiver, configured to receive the electrical signals from the receiver and remove a point from a set of points representing at least a partial surface of the object as noise by determining whether there is a coherence between the point and corresponding neighboring points of the point along at least a first direction and a second direction of the set of points.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 1, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2020
    Inventors: Matthew Rekow, Stephen Nestinger, Aaron Chen
  • Patent number: 10195767
    Abstract: A mosaic tile design and manufacturing system is comprised of a mosaic design application, a network server and a tile cutting apparatus. A mosaic artist can use the mosaic design application to specify the placement, color and shapes of a plurality of mosaic tile comprising a mosaic design. The tile shapes can be a combination of standard and non-standard shapes, and the design tool can generate instructions that can be applied by the server to the tile cutting apparatus to control the cutting apparatus to make custom tile cuts that result in a tile with a non-standard shape.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 2, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 5, 2019
    Assignee: Artaic, LLC
    Inventors: Edward Acworth, Paul Heslinga, Stephen Nestinger, Alan Argondizza
  • Publication number: 20170120479
    Abstract: A mosaic tile design and manufacturing system is comprised of a mosaic design application, a network server and a tile cutting apparatus. A mosaic artist can use the mosaic design application to specify the placement, color and shapes of a plurality of mosaic tile comprising a mosaic design. The tile shapes can be a combination of standard and non-standard shapes, and the design tool can generate instructions that can be applied by the server to the tile cutting apparatus to control the cutting apparatus to make custom tile cuts that result in a tile with a non-standard shape.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 2, 2015
    Publication date: May 4, 2017
    Inventors: EDWARD ACWORTH, PAUL HESLINGA, STEPHEN NESTINGER, ALAN ARGONDIZZA