Time-of-flight sensor and related system and method

Abstract

The invention discloses a time-of-flight sensor and a related system and method. The time-of-flight sensor is used for controlling a light-emitting module to continuously emit a plurality of light pulses, and the plurality of light pulses are reflected by a target object to generate a plurality of reflected light pulses. The time-of-flight sensor comprises a control circuit for generating a light-emitting control signal to control the light-emitting module to send the plurality of light pulses based on a time-varying frequency, wherein the control circuit also generates a sensing control signal to control a pixel array to sense the plurality of reflected light pulses based on the time-varying frequency; a pixel array, which is used for generating a plurality of sensing outputs according to the plurality of sensed reflected light pulses; a time-to-digital conversion unit, which generates a plurality of conversion outputs according to the light-emitting control signal and the plurality of sensing outputs; and a processing circuit, which is used for obtaining a statistical result according to the plurality of conversion outputs, and obtaining the flight time from the light emitting module to the target object and then back to the pixel array based on the statistical result.

Description

technical field [0001] The present application relates to sensor technology, and more particularly to a time-of-flight sensor and related systems and methods. Background technique [0002] Time-of-flight measurement technology includes direct time-of-flight measurement technology and indirect time-of-flight measurement technology. The direct time-of-flight measurement technology uses the method of transmitting a light pulse to the target and then measuring the reflected light pulse reflected from the target. The time interval between the receiving time and the emitting time of the light pulse can be used to obtain the time-of-flight of the light, and then use the measured time-of-flight to calculate the depth information. [0003] However, when there are multiple measurement devices that use the direct time-of-flight measurement technology to measure simultaneously on the same occasion (for example, there are multiple people in the room using mobile terminals with the direct...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

[0003] However, when there are multiple measurement devices using the direct time-of-flight measurement technology performing measurements simultaneously on the same occasion (for example, there are multiple people in the room using mobile terminals with the direct-time-of-flight measurement function), there may be Reflected light pulses that receive each other's light pulses and bounce back, thus causing signal interference between devices

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