Abstract: According to an embodiment, a system can dynamically control integration time in a time-of-flight (ToF) device based on current operating conditions. A signal scaler processes calibration data and real-time measurements to determine expected signal and ambient rates. Parallel calculations determine required integration times—one based on achieving maximum ranging distance and another based on measurement precision requirements. The system selects the longer integration time and applies user-defined bounds to optimize power consumption while maintaining specified performance. By adapting integration time to ambient light conditions and target reflectance characteristics, the system enables shorter integration times in favorable conditions while automatically increasing duration when needed for distant or low-reflectance targets.

Abstract: According to an embodiment, a time-of-flight sensor system includes a light emitter, a detector array, and a histogram processing circuit. The histogram processing circuit processes time-of-flight measurement data using sequential bin-by-bin histogram processing. This approach enables efficient processing with minimal memory requirements, suitable for low-power applications. The circuit applies on-the-fly operations during processing, including crosstalk removal and peak detection. A correlator circuit within the system uses multiply-accumulate (MAC) circuits to calculate ambient light contribution, perform main correlation, and compute crosstalk contribution in a bin-serial manner. Additionally, a phase/bin computation circuit applies filter coefficients to preprocessed histogram data and detects positive zero crossings to calculate the median phase.

Abstract: An example optical ranging sensor, a method for determining a proximity of a target at an optical ranging sensor, and a mobile electronic device comprising an optical ranging sensor are provided. The example optical ranging sensor includes an optical transmitter, an optical receiver, and a controller. The optical transmitter configured to generate a first signal having a first polarization state and a second signal having a second polarization state. The optical receiver configured to generate a first feedback signal resulting from one or more reflections of the first signal, and a second feedback signal resulting from one or more reflections of the second signal. The controller configured to generate a target feedback signal based on a comparison of the first feedback signal and the second feedback signal and determine a proximity of a target based on the target feedback signal.

Abstract: An example apparatus, computer-implemented method, and electronic device comprising an ambient light sensor configured to mitigate the effects of dark count rate associated with avalanche photodiodes are provided. The example apparatus includes an exposed avalanche photodiode array, a dark avalanche photodiode array, and a controller. The exposed avalanche photodiode array is positioned to receive ambient light from an external environment. The dark avalanche photodiode array is obscured from the ambient light. The controller is configured to receive an exposed illumination count corresponding to the ambient light received at the exposed avalanche photodiode array. The controller is further configured to receive a dark illumination count corresponding to a dark count at the dark avalanche photodiode array. The controller determines an ambient light value based on a difference between the exposed illumination count and the dark illumination count.

Abstract: A method includes receiving a histogram output from a detector sensor, and calculating a median point of a pulse waveform within the histogram. The pulse waveform has an even probability distribution over at least one quantization step of the histogram around the median point. A corresponding apparatus can include a detector sensor and a co-processor coupled to the detector sensor.

Abstract: A method includes receiving a histogram output from a detector sensor, and calculating a median point of a pulse waveform within the histogram. The pulse waveform has an even probability distribution over at least one quantization step of the histogram around the median point. A corresponding apparatus can include a detector sensor and a co-processor coupled to the detector sensor.

Abstract: A method of operating a time-of-flight (ToF) ranging system includes: transmitting, by an emitter, a light signal toward one or more targets; receiving, by a ToF sensor, the light signal reflected by the one or more targets; generating a histogram based on the received light signal; estimating gradients of histogram bins of the histogram by computing differences between adjacent histogram bins; identifying one or more pulse regions in the histogram; finding, in a pulse region, a rising edge having a gradient that is larger than a pre-determined threshold or is a maximum gradient in the pulse region, where the rising edge is a leftmost rising edge in the pulse region having the gradient; fine-tuning a location of the rising edge; and computing an estimate of a distance of a target in the pulse region by adding a pre-determined offset to a distance of the rising edge.

Abstract: A method of determining a distance of a closest target using a time-of-flight (ToF) ranging system includes: receiving, by a processor, a histogram generated by a ToF imager of the ToF ranging system, where the ToF imager is configured to transmit a light pulse for ranging purpose; finding a first rising edge in the histogram that corresponds to a rising edge of a reflected light pulse from the closest target; and calculating a first estimate of the distance of the closest target by adding a pre-determined offset to a distance of the first rising edge.

Abstract: In some embodiments, a ToF sensor includes an illumination source module, a transmitter lens module, a receiver lens module, and an integrated circuit that includes a ToF imaging array. The ToF imaging array includes a plurality of SPADs and a plurality of ToF channels coupled to the plurality of SPADs. In a first mode, the ToF imaging array is configured to select a first group of SPADs corresponding to a first FoV. In a second mode, the ToF imaging array is configured to select a second group of SPADs corresponding to a second FoV different than the first FoV.

Abstract: In an embodiments, a method for operating a time-of-flight (ToF) ranging array includes: illuminating a field-of-view (FoV) of the ToF ranging array with radiation pulses; receiving reflected radiation pulses with a plurality of single photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) in a region of interest (ROI) of the ToF ranging array, the plurality of SPADs arranged in a plurality of SPAD clusters; determining an ambient count of ambient light events generated by SPADs of a first SPAD cluster of the plurality of SPAD clusters; and gating an output of the first SPAD cluster based on the ambient count.

Abstract: In an embodiments, a method for operating a time-of-flight (ToF) ranging array includes: illuminating a field-of-view (FoV) of the ToF ranging array with radiation pulses; receiving reflected radiation pulses with a plurality of single photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) in a region of interest (ROI) of the ToF ranging array, the plurality of SPADs arranged in a plurality of SPAD clusters; determining an ambient count of ambient light events generated by SPADs of a first SPAD cluster of the plurality of SPAD clusters; and gating an output of the first SPAD cluster based on the ambient count.

Abstract: A method includes receiving a histogram output from a detector sensor, and calculating a median point of a pulse waveform within the histogram. The pulse waveform has an even probability distribution over at least one quantization step of the histogram around the median point. A corresponding apparatus can include a detector sensor and a co-processor coupled to the detector sensor.

Abstract: A method includes measuring a first set of photon-event data collected from a first crosstalk-monitoring zone of an optical receiver during a first period of time of flight ranging, measuring a second set of photon-event data collected from a second crosstalk-monitoring zone of the optical receiver during the first period of time of flight ranging, and generating a first dynamic crosstalk compensation value for a first histogram region of the optical receiver using the first set of photon-event data, the second set of photon-event data, and a native crosstalk compensation value for the first histogram region of the optical receiver.

Abstract: A method includes receiving a histogram output from a detector sensor, and calculating a median point of a pulse waveform within the histogram. The pulse waveform has an even probability distribution over at least one quantization step of the histogram around the median point. A corresponding apparatus can include a detector sensor and a co-processor coupled to the detector sensor.

Abstract: In an embodiments, a method for operating a time-of-flight (ToF) ranging array includes: illuminating a field-of-view (FoV) of the ToF ranging array with radiation pulses; receiving reflected radiation pulses with a plurality of single photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) in a region of interest (ROI) of the ToF ranging array, the plurality of SPADs arranged in a plurality of SPAD clusters; determining an ambient count of ambient light events generated by SPADs of a first SPAD cluster of the plurality of SPAD clusters; and gating an output of the first SPAD cluster based on the ambient count.

Abstract: In an embodiments, a method for operating a time-of-flight (ToF) ranging array includes: illuminating a field-of-view (FoV) of the ToF ranging array with radiation pulses; receiving reflected radiation pulses with a plurality of single photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) in a region of interest (ROI) of the ToF ranging array, the plurality of SPADs arranged in a plurality of SPAD clusters; determining an ambient count of ambient light events generated by SPADs of a first SPAD cluster of the plurality of SPAD clusters; and gating an output of the first SPAD cluster based on the ambient count.

Abstract: A method includes measuring a first set of photon-event data collected from a first crosstalk-monitoring zone of an optical receiver during a first period of time of flight ranging, measuring a second set of photon-event data collected from a second crosstalk-monitoring zone of the optical receiver during the first period of time of flight ranging, and generating a first dynamic crosstalk compensation value for a first histogram region of the optical receiver using the first set of photon-event data, the second set of photon-event data, and a native crosstalk compensation value for the first histogram region of the optical receiver.

Abstract: A method includes receiving a histogram output from a detector sensor, and calculating a median point of a pulse waveform within the histogram. The pulse waveform has an even probability distribution over at least one quantization step of the histogram around the median point. A corresponding apparatus can include a detector sensor and a co-processor coupled to the detector sensor.

Abstract: A method includes receiving a histogram output from a detector sensor, and calculating a median point of a pulse waveform within the histogram. The pulse waveform has an even probability distribution over at least one quantization step of the histogram around the median point. A corresponding apparatus can include a detector sensor and a co-processor coupled to the detector sensor.

Abstract: In an embodiments, a method for operating a time-of-flight (ToF) raging array includes: illuminating a field-of-view (FoV) of the ToF ranging array with radiation pulses; receiving reflected radiation pulses with a plurality of single photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) in a region of interest (ROI) of the ToF ranging array, the plurality of SPADs arranged in a plurality of SPAD clusters; determining an ambient count of ambient light events generated by SPADs of a first SPAD cluster of the plurality of SPAD clusters; and gating an output of the first SPAD cluster based on the ambient count.