Distance measurement system and method

Abstract

The present invention discloses a distance measurement system, comprising: a transmitter, which includes a light source array composed of a plurality of sub-light sources, the transmitter being configured to emit a plurality of linear light beams; a collector being configured to collect at least part of the light signal in the linear light beam reflected by an object; and a processing circuit connected to the transmitter and the collector, for calculating the flight time of the linear light beam from being emitted to being collected according to the light signal. The light source array includes at least two sub-light source arrays, the plurality of linear light beams include at least two linear light beam groups, and the sub-light source arrays correspond one to one to the linear light beam groups. Scanning distance imaging is achieved by using a dot matrix light source. Since only part of the pixel units need to read out data at a time, not only the scale and storage of the readout circuit can be reduced, but also the signal-to-noise ratio can be improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of computer technology, and in particular to a distance measurement system and method. Background Art

[0002] The time of flight (TOF) method calculates the distance of an object by measuring the flight time of a light beam in space. Due to its advantages such as high precision and large measurement range, it is widely used in consumer electronics, unmanned vehicles, AR / VR and other fields.

[0003] Distance measurement systems based on the time-of-flight principle, such as time-of-flight depth cameras and lidar systems, often include a light source transmitter and a receiver. The light source emits a light beam to the target space to provide illumination, and the receiver receives the light beam reflected back by the target. The system then calculates the distance of the object by calculating the time required for the light beam to be emitted and reflected.

[0004] At present, there are two main types of laser radars based on the time-of-flight method: mechanical and non-mechanical. The mechanical type uses a rotating base to achieve 360-degree distance measurement with a large field of view. Its transmitting end generally uses a single point light source and a line light source. The advantages are concentrated beam intensity, large measurement range, and high accuracy. The disadvantage is that the scanning time is long, resulting in low frame rate. As for the non-mechanical medium array laser radar, it generally uses a surface light source to emit a surface light beam with a certain field of view into space at one time, and receives it through an area array receiver. Therefore, its resolution and frame rate have been improved, but its disadvantages are weak light intensity, poor signal-to-noise ratio, and small measurement range. In addition, since each pixel on the array receiver needs to be demodulated at the same time, the scale, storage, and power consumption requirements of the readout circuit (such as the TDC circuit) are relatively high.

[0005] The disclosure of the above background technology content is only used to assist in understanding the inventive concept and technical solution of the present invention. It does not necessarily belong to the prior art of this patent application. In the absence of clear evidence that the above content has been disclosed on the filing date of this patent application, the above background technology should not be used to evaluate the novelty and creativity of the present application. Summary of the invention

[0006] An object of the present invention is to provide a distance measurement system to solve at least one of the above-mentioned background technical problems.

[0007] To achieve the above object, the technical solution of the embodiment of the present invention is implemented as follows:

[0008] A distance measurement system comprises: a transmitter, comprising a light source array composed of a plurality of sub-light sources, the transmitter being configured to emit a plurality of linear light beams; a collector being configured to collect at least part of the light signal in the linear light beam reflected by an object; a processing circuit connected to the transmitter and the collector, and used to calculate the flight time of the linear light beam from being emitted to being collected according to the light signal; wherein the light source array comprises at least two sub-light source arrays, the plurality of linear light beams comprises at least two linear light beam groups, and the sub-light source arrays correspond one-to-one to the linear light beam groups.

[0009] In some embodiments, the sub-light sources in the at least two sub-light source arrays are arranged in a staggered manner such that three adjacent sub-light sources form a triangular arrangement pattern.

[0010] In some embodiments, the processing circuit is further used to control the sub-light source arrays to turn on in sequence to achieve scanning.

[0011] In some embodiments, the linear light beam is formed by connecting the spot light beams emitted by a plurality of the sub-light sources.

[0012] In some embodiments, the collector includes an array pixel unit, the array pixel unit includes a super pixel, and the size of the super pixel is consistent with the spacing between adjacent linear light beams in the linear light beam group imaged in the pixel.

[0013] Another technical solution of the present invention is:

[0014] A distance measurement method comprises: controlling a transmitter to emit a plurality of linear light beams, the transmitter comprising a light source array consisting of a plurality of sub-light sources; controlling a collector to collect at least a portion of the light signals in the linear light beams reflected by an object; and calculating the flight time of the linear light beams from being emitted to being collected according to the light signals; wherein the light source array comprises at least two sub-light source arrays, the plurality of linear light beams comprise at least two linear light beam groups, and the sub-light source arrays correspond one-to-one to the linear light beam groups.

[0015] In some embodiments, the sub-light sources in the at least two sub-light source arrays are arranged in a staggered manner such that three adjacent sub-light sources form a triangular arrangement pattern.

[0016] In some embodiments, the process further includes controlling the sub-light source arrays to turn on in sequence through a processing circuit to achieve scanning.

[0017] In some embodiments, the linear light beam is formed by connecting the spot light beams emitted by a plurality of the sub-light sources.

[0018] In some embodiments, the collector includes an array pixel unit, the array pixel unit includes a super pixel, and the size of the super pixel is consistent with the spacing between adjacent linear light beams in the linear light beam group imaged in the pixel.

[0019] The beneficial effects of the technical solution of the present invention are:

[0020] The present invention realizes scanning distance imaging through a dot matrix light source. Since only part of the pixel units need to read out data at a time, not only the scale and storage of the readout circuit can be reduced, but also the signal-to-noise ratio can be improved. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0021] In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings required for use in the embodiments or the description of the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without paying creative labor.

[0022] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a distance measurement system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0023] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of a light source according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0024] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of an emission light beam projected by a transmitter according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0025] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of a pixel unit in a collector according to an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0026] In order to make the technical problems, technical solutions and beneficial effects to be solved by the embodiments of the present invention more clearly understood, the present invention is further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are only used to explain the present invention and are not used to limit the present invention.

[0027] It should be noted that when a component is referred to as being "fixed to" or "disposed on" another component, it can be directly on the other component or indirectly on the other component. When an element is referred to as being "connected to" another element, it can be directly connected to the other element or indirectly connected to the other element. In addition, connection can be used for fixing or for circuit connection.

[0028] It should be understood that the terms "length", "width", "up", "down", "front", "back", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inside", "outside", etc., indicating the orientation or position relationship, are based on the orientation or position relationship shown in the accompanying drawings, and are only for the convenience of describing the embodiments of the present invention and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore cannot be understood as a limitation on the present invention.

[0029] In addition, the terms "first" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and should not be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of the features. In the description of the embodiments of the present invention, the meaning of "plurality" is two or more, unless otherwise clearly and specifically defined.

[0030] As an embodiment of the present invention, a distance measurement system is provided, which has a stronger ability to resist ambient light and a higher resolution.

[0031] Reference Figure 1 As shown, Figure 1 1 is a schematic diagram of a distance measurement system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The distance measurement system 10 includes a transmitter 11, a collector 12 and a processing circuit 13; wherein the transmitter 11 provides an emission light beam 30 to the target space to illuminate the object 20 in the space, at least part of the emission light beam 30 is reflected by the object 20 to form a reflection light beam 40, at least part of the light signal (photon) of the reflection light beam 40 is collected by the collector 12, the processing circuit 13 is connected to the transmitter 11 and the collector 12 respectively, synchronizes the trigger signals of the transmitter 11 and the collector 12, and calculates the time required for the light beam to be emitted by the transmitter 11 and received by the collector 12 according to the light signal, that is, the flight time t between the emission light beam 30 and the reflection light beam 40, further, the distance D of the corresponding point on the object can be calculated by the following formula:

[0032] D=c·t / 2 (1)

[0033] Where c is the speed of light.

[0034] The transmitter 11 includes a light source 111 and an optical element 112. The light source 111 may be a light source such as a light emitting diode (LED), an edge emitting laser (EEL), a vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL), or an array light source composed of multiple light sources. Preferably, the array light source 111 is a VCSEL array light source chip formed by generating multiple VCSEL light sources on a single semiconductor substrate. The light beam emitted by the light source 111 may be visible light, infrared light, ultraviolet light, etc. The light source 111 emits a light beam outward under the control of the processing circuit 13. For example, in one embodiment, the light source 111 emits a pulse light beam at a certain frequency (pulse period) under the control of the processing circuit 13, which can be used in direct time of flight (Direct TOF) measurement. The frequency is set according to the measurement distance, for example, it can be set to 1MHz-100MHz, and the measurement distance is from a few meters to hundreds of meters. It can be understood that a part of the processing circuit 13 or a subcircuit that exists independently of the processing circuit 13 can control the light source 111 to emit a related light beam, such as a pulse signal generator.

[0035] The optical element 112 receives the pulse light beam from the light source 111, and optically modulates the pulse light beam, such as diffraction, refraction, reflection, etc., and then emits the modulated light beam into space, such as a focused light beam, a flood light beam, a structured light beam, etc. The optical element 112 can be one or more combinations of lenses, diffractive optical elements, mask plates, reflectors, MEMS galvanometers, etc.

[0036] The processing circuit 13 can be an independent dedicated circuit, such as a dedicated SOC chip, FPGA chip, ASIC chip, etc., or it can include a general-purpose processor. For example, when the depth camera is integrated into a smart terminal such as a mobile phone, TV, computer, etc., the processor in the terminal can serve as at least a part of the processing circuit 13.

[0037] The collector 12 includes a pixel unit 121 and an imaging lens unit 122. The imaging lens unit 122 receives and guides at least part of the modulated light beam reflected by the object to the pixel unit 121. In one embodiment, the pixel unit 121 is composed of a single-photon avalanche photodiode (SPAD), or an array pixel unit composed of multiple SPAD pixels. The array size of the array pixel unit represents the resolution of the depth camera, such as 320×240. SPAD can respond to an incident single photon to detect a single photon. Due to its advantages of high sensitivity and fast response speed, it can achieve long-distance and high-precision measurement. Compared with image sensors based on light integration such as CCD / CMOS, SPAD can collect weak light signals and calculate flight time by counting single photons, such as using time-correlated single photon counting (TCSPC). Generally, a readout circuit (not shown in the figure) composed of one or more devices such as a signal amplifier, a time-to-digital converter (TDC), and an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) is also connected to the pixel unit 121. These circuits can be integrated with the pixels, and can also be part of the processing circuit 13 . For the sake of description, they are collectively regarded as the processing circuit 13 .

[0038] In some embodiments, the distance measurement system 10 may also include devices such as a color camera, an infrared camera, and an IMU. The combination of these devices can achieve richer functions, such as 3D texture modeling, infrared face recognition, SLAM, and other functions.

[0039] In some embodiments, the emitter 11 and the collector 12 may also be arranged in a coaxial form, that is, the two are connected by an optical device with reflection and transmission functions, such as a semi-transparent and semi-reflective mirror.

[0040] In some embodiments, the transmitter includes a light source array composed of multiple sub-light sources, and the transmitter is configured to emit multiple linear light beams; the collector is configured to collect at least part of the light signal in the linear light beam reflected back by the object; the processing circuit is connected to the transmitter and the collector, and is used to calculate the flight time of the linear light beam from being emitted to being collected based on the light signal; wherein the light source array includes at least two sub-light source arrays, the multiple linear light beams include at least two linear light beam groups, and the sub-light source arrays correspond one-to-one to the linear light beam groups.

[0041] In the direct time-of-flight distance measurement system using SPAD, a single photon incident on the SPAD pixel will cause an avalanche, and the SPAD will output an avalanche signal to the TDC circuit, which then detects the time interval from when the photon is emitted from the emitter 11 to when the avalanche is caused. After multiple measurements, the time interval is histogrammed by a time-correlated single photon counting (TCSPC) circuit to restore the waveform of the entire pulse signal, and the time corresponding to the waveform can be further determined. Based on this time, the flight time can be determined, thereby achieving accurate flight time detection, and finally the distance information of the object is calculated based on the flight time.

[0042] For the convenience of unified description, it is assumed that the direction of the connection line between the transmitter 11 and the collector 12 is horizontal (x direction).

[0043] Figure 2 1 is a schematic diagram of a light source according to an embodiment of the present invention. The light source 111 is composed of a plurality of sub-light sources arranged on a single-chip substrate 111 (or a plurality of substrates), and the sub-light sources are arranged on the substrate in a certain pattern. The substrate may be a semiconductor substrate, a metal substrate, etc., and the sub-light sources may be light-emitting diodes, edge-emitting laser emitters, vertical cavity surface laser emitters (VCSEL), etc. Preferably, the light source 111 is an array VCSEL chip composed of a plurality of VCSEL sub-light sources arranged on a semiconductor substrate. The sub-light sources are used to emit light beams of any required wavelength, such as visible light, infrared light, ultraviolet light, etc. The light source 111 emits light under the modulation drive of the driving circuit (which may be a part of the processing circuit 13), such as continuous wave modulation, pulse modulation, etc.

[0044] In one embodiment, the light sources 111 may also emit light in groups or as a whole under the control of the driving circuit. For example, the light source 111 includes a first sub-light source array 201 ( Figure 2 denoted by a circle with a horizontal line in the figure), the second sub-light source array 202 ( Figure 2 The first sub-light source array 201 emits light under the control of the first driving circuit, and the second sub-light source array 202 emits light under the control of the second driving circuit. The sub-light sources can be arranged in one dimension or two dimensions, and can be arranged regularly or irregularly. It is understandable that the light source 111 can also include a third sub-light source array, a fourth sub-light source array, and so on.

[0045] Figure 2Only one example is schematically given in the example, in which the first sub-light source array 201 and the second sub-light source array 202 are both 8×5 regular array sub-light sources, and the first sub-light source array 201 and the second sub-light source array 202 are arranged in a staggered manner in the horizontal direction so that three adjacent sub-light sources form a triangular arrangement pattern. It can be understood that the first sub-light source array 201 and the second sub-light source array 202 can also be regularly staggered so that four adjacent sub-light sources form a rectangular arrangement pattern. Due to the requirements of the properties of the sub-light source itself, such as the aperture, and the manufacturing process requirements, the spacing between two adjacent sub-light sources generally has a minimum physical limit. For a rectangular arrangement pattern or a triangular arrangement pattern, the side length of the rectangle or triangle will not be less than the minimum physical limit, but the difference is that the use of a triangular arrangement pattern will make the distance between adjacent sub-light sources in the horizontal and / or longitudinal directions less than the minimum physical limit, thereby to a certain extent, the light source density can be improved to further improve the power, resolution and other characteristics of the light beam emitted by the transmitter 11.

[0046] In one embodiment, when there are more than two sub-light source arrays, the interleaving between them may also be longitudinally interleaved.

[0047] Figure 3 : is a schematic diagram of an emission light beam projected by an emitter according to an embodiment of the present invention. Among them, the emission light beam 30 includes multiple linear light beams, and the multiple linear light beams are divided into multiple groups. For example, in this embodiment, they are divided into two linear light beam groups 301 and 302. A light beam group means that only the linear light beams in the group are emitted at the same time. Each linear light beam emitted here is formed by each column of sub-light sources in the light source 111. For example, in some embodiments, the light beam emitted by the sub-light source emits a spot light beam into space after passing through the optical element 112. When two adjacent spot light beams are connected, a linear light beam similar to a line is formed; in other embodiments, the light beam emitted by the sub-light source emits a sub-linear light beam into space after passing through the optical element 112, such as a cylindrical mirror. The sub-linear light beams of multiple sub-light sources are combined together to form Figure 3 Linear beam in .

[0048] It can be understood that the linear light beam groups correspond to the sub-light source arrays one by one, that is, when the sub-light source arrays are turned on, the corresponding linear light beam groups will be generated and emitted into the space. Therefore, the number of groups in the sub-light source arrays is the same as the number of groups in the linear light beam groups. For example, N sub-light source arrays will generate N linear light beam groups. Therefore, in one embodiment, by turning on each sub-light source array in turn, the light beam scanning of the spatial area can be completed, and the direction in which the sub-light source arrays are turned on determines the scanning direction. For example Figure 2 and Figure 3 In the embodiment shown, the sub-light source arrays 201 and 202 are turned on in sequence to generate linear light beam groups 301 (such as Figure 3The lines represented by the solid lines) and 302 (such as Figure 3 Compared with traditional linear scanning, this method will greatly reduce the number of scans and thus improve the scanning time.

[0049] Figure 4 Schematic diagram of a pixel unit in a collector according to an embodiment of the present invention. The pixel unit includes a pixel array 41 and a readout circuit 42, wherein the pixel array 41 includes a two-dimensional array composed of a plurality of pixels 410, wherein the pixel array is used to collect at least part of the light beam reflected by the object and generate a corresponding photon signal, and the readout circuit 42 is used to process the photon signal to calculate the flight time.

[0050] In one embodiment, the readout circuit 42 includes a TDC circuit 421 and a histogram circuit 422, which are used to draw a histogram reflecting the pulse waveform emitted by the light source in the transmitter, and further, the flight time can be calculated according to the histogram, and finally the result is output. Among them, the readout circuit 42 can be composed of a single TDC circuit and a histogram circuit, or an array readout circuit composed of multiple TDC circuit units and histogram circuit units.

[0051] In one embodiment, when the emitter 11 emits a linear light beam to the object under test, the optical element 112 in the collector 12 guides the linear light beam to the corresponding pixel. Generally, in order to receive as many light signals of the reflected light beam as possible, the size of a single linear light beam is set to correspond to multiple pixels (the correspondence here can be understood as imaging, and the optical element 112 generally includes an imaging lens), for example Figure 4 A single linear light beam corresponds to 14x2=28 pixels, that is, the photons reflected back by the linear light beam will be received by the corresponding 28 pixels with a certain probability.

[0052] When the sub-light source array is turned on in sequence, linear light beam groups will be generated in sequence and imaged on the pixel unit, such as Figure 4 The linear beam group 411 represented by the solid line and the linear beam group 412 represented by the dotted line are shown in FIG. Therefore, the flight time calculation of all pixel units can be completed by multiple measurements. Compared with the traditional planar array light source solution, in the present invention, since only part of the pixel units need to read out data at a time, it can not only reduce the scale and storage of the readout circuit, but also improve the signal-to-noise ratio.

[0053] Generally, the measurement system 10 between the transmitter 11 and the collector 12 can be divided into coaxial and off-axis according to different settings. For the coaxial case, the linear light beam emitted by the transmitter 11 will be collected by the corresponding pixel in the collector 12 after being reflected by the measured object, and the position of the pixel will not be affected by the distance of the measured object; but for the off-axis case, due to the existence of parallax, when the measured object is at different distances, the position of the linear light beam falling on the pixel unit will also change, and generally will shift along the baseline (the line between the transmitter 11 and the collector 12, the horizontal direction is uniformly used to represent the baseline direction in the present invention). Therefore, when the distance to the measured object is unknown, the position of the pixel is uncertain. The uncertainty here includes the uncertainty of the overall position of the linear light beam and the uncertainty of the position of a single linear light beam itself, such as bending, tilting, etc. In order to solve this problem, it is necessary to adopt super pixel technology (the super pixel technology can refer to Chinese patent application CN 201910888951.X, which will not be repeated here), that is, a pixel area 413 (here referred to as a "super-pixel") composed of multiple pixels exceeding the number of pixels in the pixel corresponding to the linear light beam is set to receive the reflected linear light beam. When setting the size of the super-pixel (mainly the size along the baseline direction), it is necessary to consider the measurement range of the system 10 and the length of the baseline at the same time, so that the pixels corresponding to the spots reflected by the object at different distances within the measurement range will all fall within the super-pixel area. In one embodiment, the size of the super-pixel is set to be consistent with the distance between the imaging positions of adjacent linear light beams in the linear light beam group on the pixel unit, Figure 4 In the embodiment shown, the linear beam occupies 2 pixels in the horizontal direction, and the distance between adjacent linear beams in the same linear beam group is 6 pixels, so the size of the super pixel in the horizontal direction can be set to 6 pixels; the size in the vertical direction can be set according to the scale of the readout circuit, which can be 1 or other values, such as Figure 4 There are 2 pixels in the middle.

[0054] As another embodiment of the present invention, a distance measurement method is provided, comprising the following steps:

[0055] Controlling an emitter to emit a plurality of linear light beams, wherein the emitter comprises a light source array consisting of a plurality of sub-light sources;

[0056] Controlling the collector to collect at least a portion of the light signal in the linear light beam reflected by the object;

[0057] Calculating the flight time of the linear light beam from being emitted to being collected according to the optical signal;

[0058] The light source array includes at least two sub-light source arrays, the multiple linear light beams include at least two linear light beam groups, and the sub-light source arrays correspond to the linear light beam groups one by one.

[0059] It should be noted that the distance measurement method of this embodiment adopts the measurement system of the aforementioned embodiment to perform distance measurement, and its technical solution is the same as that of the aforementioned distance measurement system, so it will not be repeated here.

[0060] In some applications, different scenes, different measurement ranges or different measurement requirements may have different requirements for the measurement system. To this end, the present invention also provides an adjustable distance measurement system. The following is an explanation of the adjustable distance measurement system. Unlike the aforementioned distance measurement system, the sub-light sources in the light source 111 of the adjustable distance measurement system can be at least partially independently addressed to be dynamically controlled to change at least one of the line direction, line width, spacing, and scanning direction of the linear light beam. In addition, in some embodiments, it is also necessary to make adaptive adjustments to the pixel end, such as super pixel size, etc.

[0061] In one embodiment, for example Figure 2 In the illustrated embodiment, the sub-light source can be dynamically controlled to become 3 sub-light source arrays (201, 202, 203), 4 sub-light source arrays (201, 202, 203, 204), etc., and correspondingly, 3 groups of linear light beams and 4 groups of linear light beams will be generated. The spacing between adjacent linear light beams in the light beam groups will also be different. When imaging onto the pixel unit, the corresponding pixel spacing will also be different. At this time, the size of the super-pixel and the readout circuit also need to be adaptively adjusted, and the measurement ranges corresponding to different super-pixel sizes are also different. Therefore, the flight time measurement of targets with different measurement ranges can be achieved by the same measurement system by dynamically controlling the sub-light source array, the super-pixel size, and the readout circuit.

[0062] In one embodiment, the composition of the sub-light source array is controlled by controlling the sub-light sources, for example, Figure 2 The multiple rows of sub-light sources form a sub-light source array, and the linear light beams generated thereby are transverse linear light beams, consistent with the baseline direction, and the scanning direction is perpendicular to the baseline direction (longitudinal direction).

[0063] In one embodiment, the sub-light source array may be dynamically controlled to generate linear light beams of different widths, for example, two adjacent columns of sub-light sources may be synchronously turned on to generate a linear light beam wider than a single column of sub-light sources.

[0064] In one embodiment, the direction and scanning direction of the linear light beam can be controlled by dynamically controlling the array light source. For example, each sub-light source in the array light source is set to be independently addressed, and its sub-light source array can be arbitrarily combined, so that the direction and scanning direction of the linear light beam can be dynamically adjusted. For example, in a measurement, a transverse linear light beam is first used to scan in the longitudinal direction, and then a longitudinal linear light beam is used to scan in the transverse direction, thereby obtaining a more accurate result.

[0065] It is understandable that when the distance measurement system of the present invention is embedded in a device or hardware, corresponding structural or component changes will be made to adapt to the needs, and its essence still adopts the distance measurement system of the present invention, so it should be regarded as the protection scope of the present invention. The above content is a further detailed description of the present invention in conjunction with specific / preferred embodiments, and it cannot be determined that the specific implementation of the present invention is limited to these descriptions. For ordinary technicians in the technical field to which the present invention belongs, without departing from the concept of the present invention, it can also make several substitutions or modifications to these described embodiments, and these substitutions or modifications should be regarded as belonging to the protection scope of the present invention. In the description of this specification, the description of reference terms "an embodiment", "some embodiments", "preferred embodiments", "examples", "specific examples", or "some examples" means that the specific features, structures, materials or characteristics described in conjunction with the embodiment or example are included in at least one embodiment or example of the present invention.

[0066] In this specification, the schematic representation of the above terms does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment or example. Moreover, the specific features, structures, materials or characteristics described can be combined in any one or more embodiments or examples in a suitable manner. In addition, those skilled in the art can combine and combine the different embodiments or examples described in this specification and the features of different embodiments or examples without contradicting each other. Although the embodiments of the present invention and their advantages have been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions and modifications can be made herein without departing from the scope defined by the appended claims.

[0067] Furthermore, the scope of the present invention is not intended to be limited to the particular embodiments of the processes, machines, manufactures, compositions of matter, means, methods, and steps described in the specification. One of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate that the above disclosures, processes, machines, manufactures, compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps, currently existing or to be developed, may be utilized to perform substantially the same functions as the corresponding embodiments described herein or to obtain substantially the same results as the embodiments described herein. Therefore, the appended claims are intended to include within their scope such processes, machines, manufactures, compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps.

Claims

1. A distance measurement system, characterized in that: include: An emitter, comprising a light source array consisting of a plurality of sub-light sources, the emitter being configured to emit a plurality of linear light beams; A collector configured to collect at least a portion of the optical signal in the linear light beam reflected by the object; A processing circuit, connected to the emitter and the collector, for calculating the flight time of the linear light beam from being emitted to being collected according to the optical signal; Wherein, the light source array includes at least two sub-light source arrays, the multiple linear light beams include at least two linear light beam groups, and the sub-light source arrays correspond to the linear light beam groups one by one; the sub-light sources in the at least two sub-light source arrays are arranged in an interlaced manner so that three adjacent sub-light sources form a triangular arrangement pattern, and the triangular arrangement pattern will make the distance between adjacent sub-light sources in the horizontal and / or longitudinal directions less than the minimum physical limit corresponding to the spacing between two adjacent sub-light sources.

2. The distance measurement system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The processing circuit is also used to control the sub-light source arrays to turn on in sequence to achieve scanning.

3. The distance measurement system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The linear light beam is formed by connecting the spot light beams emitted by a plurality of sub-light sources.

4. The distance measurement system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The collector includes an array pixel unit, and the array pixel unit includes a super pixel. The size of the super pixel is consistent with the spacing between adjacent linear light beams in the linear light beam group formed in the pixel.

5. A distance measurement method, characterized in that: The steps include: Controlling an emitter to emit a plurality of linear light beams, wherein the emitter comprises a light source array consisting of a plurality of sub-light sources; Controlling the collector to collect at least a portion of the light signal in the linear light beam reflected by the object; Calculating the flight time of the linear light beam from being emitted to being collected according to the optical signal; Wherein, the light source array includes at least two sub-light source arrays, the multiple linear light beams include at least two linear light beam groups, and the sub-light source arrays correspond to the linear light beam groups one by one; the sub-light sources in the at least two sub-light source arrays are arranged in an interlaced manner so that three adjacent sub-light sources form a triangular arrangement pattern, and the triangular arrangement pattern will make the distance between adjacent sub-light sources in the horizontal and / or longitudinal directions less than the minimum physical limit corresponding to the spacing between two adjacent sub-light sources.

6. The distance measurement method according to claim 5, characterized in that: Also includes: The processing circuit controls the sub-light source arrays to turn on in sequence to achieve scanning.

7. The distance measurement method according to claim 5, characterized in that: The linear light beam is formed by connecting the spot light beams emitted by a plurality of sub-light sources.

8. The distance measurement method according to claim 5, characterized in that: The collector includes an array pixel unit, and the array pixel unit includes a super pixel. The size of the super pixel is consistent with the spacing between adjacent linear light beams in the linear light beam group formed in the pixel.

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