Dof sensor supporting ROI area exposure and electronic device

Abstract

The utility model provides a dtof sensor supporting ROI area exposure and an electronic device. The dtof sensor comprises an SRAM controller, an SRAM, a system controller and a pixel array which are connected in sequence. The SRAM controller is used for receiving first configuration information sent by an upper computer; writing first configuration information into a storage partition of the SRAM, wherein the first configuration information is ROI region information; the SRAM is used for storing a plurality of pieces of ROI information of single scanning; the system controller is used for reading information of the ith ROI stored in the ith storage partition in the SRAM and controlling pixel units contained in the ith ROI on the pixel array to be opened, and 1 < = ilt; n; after exposure of the opened pixel unit is completed, the pixel unit is closed, and then information of the (i + 1) th ROI is read from the (i + 1) th storage partition in the SRAM until exposure of the N ROIs is controlled to be completed. The ROI region information is stored in the SRAM to control the pixel units contained in each ROI region to be opened to complete exposure, so that flexible ROI region exposure is realized, and the distance measurement flexibility is improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The utility model relates to the technical field of depth sensing, in particular to a DTof sensor and electronic equipment supporting ROI area exposure. Background Art

[0002] Currently, lidar is one of the indispensable depth sensors in autonomous driving technology. It is used to obtain the distance information from the car to the target object and provide decision-making for autonomous driving in combination with other sensors.

[0003] LiDAR calculates the distance by calculating the time of flight (ToF) from the light emitted from the transmitter (TX) to the target object and reflected back to the receiver (RX). Existing DTOF LiDARs such as mechanical LiDARs, rotating mirror LiDARs, and MEMS LiDARs all use moving parts to scan the field of view that needs to be measured to obtain the distance information of each point, thereby obtaining a point cloud map of the entire field of view; however, due to the inertial characteristics of the moving parts, the field of view can only be scanned according to certain mechanical inertia laws, and the scanning is either from left to right or from top to bottom. It is impossible to perform random scanning or customized scanning processes such as repeated scanning at specific angles. Utility Model Content

[0004] In view of the above-mentioned deficiencies in the prior art, the purpose of the present invention is to provide a DTof sensor and an electronic device supporting ROI area exposure, aiming to improve the exposure flexibility of the DTof sensor.

[0005] In order to achieve the above purpose, the utility model adopts the following technical solutions:

[0006] The utility model provides a DTof sensor supporting ROI area exposure in a first aspect, comprising an SRAM controller, an SRAM, a system controller and a pixel array connected in sequence, wherein the SRAM controller is also connected to a host computer;

[0007] The SRAM controller is used to receive first configuration information sent by the host computer; and write the first configuration information into the storage partition of the SRAM, wherein the first configuration information is ROI area information;

[0008] The SRAM is used to store ROI area information of multiple single scans;

[0009] The system controller is configured to read the information of the i-th ROI region stored in the i-th storage partition of the SRAM, control the pixel units included in the i-th ROI region on the pixel array to turn on, where 1 ≤ i < N; and after the turned-on pixel units complete exposure, turn off the pixel units, and then read the information of the (i + 1)-th ROI region from the (i + 1)-th storage partition of the SRAM until controlling the exposure of the N ROI regions to be completed.

[0010] In one embodiment, the N ROI regions are distributed on the pixel array as follows:

[0011] From the 1st to the Nth ROI regions, in the column direction of the pixel array, the addresses of the pixel units are incremented;

[0012] Alternatively, from the 1st to the Nth ROI regions, in the column direction of the pixel array, the addresses of the pixel units are decremented;

[0013] Alternatively, from the 1st to the Nth ROI regions, in the column direction of the pixel array, the addresses of the pixel units are random;

[0014] Alternatively, from the 1st to the Nth ROI regions, in the column direction of the pixel array, the addresses of the pixel units are fixed.

[0015] In one embodiment, the system controller is specifically configured to:

[0016] Read data starting from the 1st storage partition according to the address order of the SRAM storage partitions until reading data from the Nth storage partition;

[0017] Correspondingly, from controlling the pixel units included in the 1st ROI region to turn on, to controlling the pixel units included in the Nth ROI region to turn on.

[0018] In one embodiment, it further includes a register connected to the system controller and the host computer;

[0019] The register is configured to receive the second configuration information sent by the host computer; the second configuration information includes: N ROI regions, the size of one ROI region;

[0020] The system controller is further configured to control the exposure of the N ROI regions to be completed according to the second configuration information.

[0021] In one embodiment, the ROI region information includes the number of segments of one ROI region, the number of pixels included in one segment, and the coordinates of each pixel within each segment.

[0022] In one embodiment, the graphics presented by the i-th ROI area on the pixel array are: a straight line, a curve, or a slant line;

[0023] Correspondingly, the coordinates of the upper left corner pixels in each segment are connected into a line, and the shape of the line is presented as a straight line, a curve, or a diagonal line.

[0024] In one embodiment, the N ROI regions are distributed on the pixel array as follows:

[0025] The number of turned-on pixel units in the middle of the pixel array is large, and the number of turned-on pixel units in the upper and lower sides of the pixel array is small.

[0026] In one embodiment, the ROI area information also includes information for controlling laser emission, including exposure time, waiting time, laser repetition rate, and laser pulse width; for each ROI area, the corresponding laser is controlled to adopt different exposure strategies according to the laser emission information.

[0027] In one embodiment, two SRAMs with different ROI area information are included;

[0028] The system controller is also used to read the ROI area information in the first SRAM and control the corresponding pixel unit to turn on in the first frame; and read the ROI area information in the second SRAM and control the corresponding pixel unit to turn on in the second frame.

[0029] A second aspect of the utility model provides an electronic device, comprising a dtof sensor, a transmitter and an MCU supporting ROI area exposure as described above, wherein the MCU is connected to the dtof sensor and the transmitter respectively;

[0030] The MCU is used to send first configuration information to the dtof sensor, and send a transmission control signal corresponding to the first configuration information to the transmitter.

[0031] The beneficial effect of the utility model is: providing a dtof sensor and electronic device supporting ROI area exposure. By writing ROI area information into the SRAM of the dtof sensor, and sequentially reading the information in each storage partition through the system controller to control the pixel units contained in the corresponding ROI area to turn on and complete the exposure, the ROI area information can be adjusted according to the scanning requirements to support flexible ROI area exposure, thereby improving the flexibility of dtof ranging. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0032] The present invention will be further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments, in which:

[0033] Figure 1It is a structural diagram of a dtof sensor supporting ROI area exposure in an embodiment of the utility model;

[0034] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of data configuration of SRAM in an embodiment of the utility model;

[0035] Figure 3 Schematic diagram of ROI area of ​​one-dimensional scanning in different scanning modes in the embodiment of the utility model;

[0036] Figure 4 Another data configuration diagram of SRAM in an embodiment of the utility model;

[0037] Figure 5 A schematic diagram of a ROI region for two-dimensional scanning in an embodiment of the utility model;

[0038] Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of a slash-shaped ROI region in an embodiment of the utility model;

[0039] Figure 7 A schematic diagram of a curved ROI region in an embodiment of the utility model;

[0040] Figure 8 A schematic diagram of the distribution of a plurality of turned-on pixel units on a pixel array in an embodiment of the utility model;

[0041] Fig. 9 It is a structural diagram of an electronic device in an embodiment of the utility model. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0042] 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 intended to limit the present invention.

[0043] 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.

[0044] 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 utility model 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 utility model.

[0045] 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. Therefore, 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 utility model, the meaning of "multiple" is two or more, unless otherwise clearly and specifically defined.

[0046] At present, laser radars equipped with dtof sensors, such as mechanical laser radars, rotating mirror laser radars, and MEMS laser radars, all use moving parts to scan the field of view that needs to be measured to obtain the distance information of each point, thereby obtaining a point cloud map of the entire field of view; however, due to the inertial characteristics of the moving parts, the field of view can only follow certain mechanical inertia laws when scanning, and the scanning is either from left to right or from top to bottom. It is impossible to perform random scanning or customized exposure scanning processes such as repeated scanning at specific angles. This exposure method makes it easy for cross-light interference to occur between adjacent exposure areas, and continuous regional exposure may expose the eye to the detection light for a long time, making the laser radar's anti-interference ability poor and easily causing human eye safety problems. Therefore, the following describes how to solve this problem through a dtof sensor that supports ROI area exposure, so as to improve the exposure flexibility of the dtof laser radar, thereby improving the laser radar's anti-interference ability and reducing human eye safety problems.

[0047] like Figure 1 As shown, the DTof sensor 1 supporting ROI area exposure provided by the present invention includes an SRAM controller 102, an SRAM 103, a system controller 104 and a pixel array 101 connected in sequence, and the SRAM controller 102 is also connected to a host computer via an I2C or SPI serial interface.

[0048] The SRAM controller 102 is configured to receive first configuration information sent by a host computer; and write the first configuration information into a storage partition of the SRAM 103, where the first configuration information is ROI region information; the SRAM 103 is used to store ROI region information of multiple single scans; the system controller 104 is configured to read the i-th ROI region information stored in the i-th storage partition of the SRAM 103, control the pixel units included in the i-th ROI region on the pixel array 101 to turn on, where 1 ≤ i < N; and after the turned-on pixel units complete exposure, turn off the pixel units, and then read the (i + 1)-th ROI region information from the (i + 1)-th storage partition of the SRAM 103 until the exposure of the N ROI regions is completed.

[0049] In this embodiment, the SRAM controller 102 in the dtof sensor 1 is used to implement operations on the read / write ports of the SRAM 103, including control of read / write enable, read / write address, and read / write data. Specifically, it receives the first configuration information sent by the host computer through serial interfaces such as I2C and SPI. The first configuration information can be exposure configurations stored in advance in the host computer under different detection scenarios or modes, such as sequential exposure configuration, reverse exposure configuration, random exposure configuration, etc.; it can also be an exposure configuration custom-set by the user according to requirements, such as multiple repeated exposure configurations for a specified angle, etc. This embodiment does not limit this.

[0050] As Figure 2 shown, the storage space of the SRAM 103 (Static Random - Access Memory) in the dtof sensor 1 is divided into multiple storage partitions Zone 0, Zone 1, …, Zone N. The SRAM controller 102 writes the received first configuration information into each storage partition, that is, configures the stored data of the physical addresses in each storage partition.

[0051] The first configuration information written into the SRAM 103 is ROI region information. Specifically, ROI region information of a single scan is written into each storage partition correspondingly, taking Figure 2 Zone 0 as an example. The ROI region information of a single scan may include information for controlling laser emission, such as exposure strategies like exposure time, waiting time, laser repetition rate, laser pulse width, etc., and coordinate information of the pixel units included in the ROI region to be scanned. For each ROI region, different exposure strategies are controlled for the corresponding laser according to the information of laser emission.

[0052] The ROI area information of a single scan is flexibly stored through multiple storage partitions, so that the data written in each storage partition can be flexibly adjusted according to the scanning requirements, and then the ROI area of ​​each exposure, that is, the pixel position turned on is adjusted accordingly. Compared with the existing method of adjusting the pixel position turned on for each scan through mechanical moving parts, the flexibility of regional exposure can be significantly improved.

[0053] When performing exposure control, the system controller 104 sequentially reads the ROI area information stored in each storage partition in the SRAM 103, thereby sequentially controlling the pixel units at different positions on the pixel array 101 to turn on for exposure. The system controller 104 includes a pixel array 101 controller, a system timing generator, a state machine jump and monitor, etc. It is a circuit structure realized after digital logic synthesis and is an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC).

[0054] Specifically, the system controller 104 first reads the i-th ROI area information stored in the i-th storage partition, and based on the coordinate information of the ROI area in the i-th ROI area information, controls the pixel units included in the i-th ROI area on the pixel array 101 to turn on, and turns off the turned-on pixel units after the exposure is completed, and continues to read the i+1-th ROI area information stored in the i+1-th storage partition from the SRAM 103, and based on the coordinate information of the ROI area in the i+1-th ROI area information, controls the pixel units included in the i+1-th ROI area on the pixel array 101 to turn on, and repeats the above exposure control process until the N ROI areas are all exposed.

[0055] The dtof sensor 1 supporting ROI area exposure provided in this embodiment configures SRAM103 in the dtof sensor 1, and writes ROI area information of multiple single scans into multiple storage partitions of the SRAM103 accordingly, reads the ROI area information in one storage partition each time exposure, and controls the pixel units included in one ROI area on the pixel array 101 to start exposure based on the read ROI area information. That is, this embodiment does not divide each pixel unit in the pixel array 101 into a fixed ROI area before exposure, and the position of the pixel unit turned on for each exposure is completely determined by the ROI area information in each storage partition in the SRAM103. The pixel unit at a certain address on the pixel array 101 can belong to different ROI areas under the same or different first configuration information, which greatly improves the flexibility of ROI area exposure.

[0056] For example, in ranging scenario 1, when reading the jth ROI region information stored in the jth storage partition, pixel unit 1 is controlled to be turned on, and when reading the kth ROI region information stored in the kth storage partition, pixel unit 1 is also controlled to be turned on, that is, at this time, pixel unit 1 belongs to both the jth ROI region and the kth ROI region, and repeated turning on of pixel unit 1 can be achieved; and in ranging scenario 2 with different first configuration information, when reading the mth ROI region information stored in the mth storage partition, pixel unit 1 is controlled to be turned on, that is, pixel unit 1 belongs to the mth ROI region, and the exposure sequence adjustment of pixel unit 1 in different ranging scenarios can be achieved. Compared with the mechanical scanning method that can only follow a certain mechanical inertia law, the scanning method configured with SRAM103 can flexibly adjust the ROI region information of multiple single scans written into SRAM103 according to the scanning requirements, control the position of the pixel unit turned on each time exposure, and then achieve flexible custom scanning, and improve the flexibility of dtof ranging.

[0057] In one embodiment, the system controller 104 is specifically configured to:

[0058] According to the address sequence of the SRAM 103 storage partitions, data is read starting from the first storage partition until data is read from the Nth storage partition;

[0059] Correspondingly, the control starts from turning on the pixel units included in the first ROI area to turning on the pixel units included in the Nth ROI area.

[0060] In this embodiment, when performing exposure control within one frame exposure time, based on the address sequence of each SRAM103 storage partition, the system controller 104 reads data from the address of the first storage partition each time, and correspondingly, controls the pixel units included in the first ROI area to turn on based on the read data, and continues to read the data of the second storage partition after the pixel units included in the first ROI area complete exposure, and so on, until data is read from the Nth storage partition to control the pixel units included in the Nth ROI area to turn on for exposure. Each frame reads data from the first address in the SRAM103 for exposure control, ensuring that complete and accurate exposure can be performed based on the ROI area information in the SRAM103, thereby avoiding incomplete exposure affecting the accuracy of ranging.

[0061] In one embodiment, the N ROI regions are distributed on the pixel array 101 as follows:

[0062] From the 1st to the Nth ROI region, in the column direction of the pixel array 101, the addresses of the pixel units are increasing;

[0063] Alternatively, from the 1st to the Nth ROI region, in the column direction of the pixel array 101, the addresses of the pixel units are decreasing;

[0064] Alternatively, from the 1st to the Nth ROI region, in the column direction of the pixel array 101, the addresses of the pixel units are random;

[0065] Alternatively, from the 1st to the Nth ROI region, in the column direction of the pixel array 101 , the addresses of the pixel units are fixed.

[0066] In this embodiment, based on the ROI area information of a single scan written into each storage partition, when the data in the storage partition is read in sequence for exposure control, a custom scanning process such as sequential scanning, reverse scanning, random scanning, and repeated scanning can be implemented. Figure 3 As shown, taking one-dimensional scanning as an example, each Zone of SRAM103 stores the ROI area information where a light strip is located. One-dimensional scanning is that the light strip is a whole in the horizontal direction, and the scanning only moves in the vertical direction. Each exposure reads the ROI area information in a Zone to turn on the pixel unit in the ROI area corresponding to a light strip.

[0067] like Figure 3 As shown in (a), during sequential scanning, from the 1st to the Nth ROI area, in the column direction of the pixel array 101, the address of the pixel unit is incremented, that is, the ROI area information of multiple scans is sequentially written into each storage partition along the order of increasing row addresses, for example, Zone 0 corresponds to the ROI area information written in row address 0, Zone 1 corresponds to the ROI area information written in row address 1, and Zone N corresponds to the ROI area information written in row address N. In this way, the first time data is read from Zone 0, the pixel unit in the ROI 0 area is enabled for exposure, the second time data is read from Zone 1, the pixel unit in the ROI 1 area is enabled for exposure, until the last time data is read from Zone N, the pixel unit in the ROI N area is enabled for exposure, so that from ROI 0 to ROI N area, in the column direction of the pixel array 101, the address of the pixel unit is incremented, thereby realizing sequential scanning.

[0068] like Figure 3As shown in (b), when scanning in reverse order, from the 1st to the Nth ROI area, in the column direction of the pixel array 101, the address of the pixel unit is decreasing, that is, contrary to the above scanning method, the ROI area information of multiple scans is sequentially written into each storage partition along the descending order of the row address, for example, Zone 0 corresponds to the ROI area information written in the row address N, Zone 1 corresponds to the ROI area information written in the row address N-1, and Zone N corresponds to the ROI area information written in the row address 0. In this way, the first time data is read from Zone 0, the pixel unit of the ROI 0 area is enabled for exposure, and the second time data is read from Zone 1, the pixel unit of the ROI 1 area is enabled for exposure, until the last time data is read from Zone N, the pixel unit of the ROI N area is enabled for exposure, so that from ROI 0 to ROI N area, the address of the pixel unit is decreasing in the column direction of the pixel array 101, thereby realizing reverse scanning.

[0069] like Figure 3 As shown in (c), during random scanning, from the 1st to the Nth ROI area, in the column direction of the pixel array 101, the addresses of the pixel units are random, that is, the ROI area information scanned multiple times is randomly written into each storage partition, for example, Zone 0 corresponds to the ROI area information written with row address J, Zone 1 corresponds to the ROI area information written with row address H, and Zone N corresponds to the ROI area information written with row address N-1. In this way, the first time data is read from Zone 0, the pixel units in the ROI 0 area are enabled for exposure, and the second time data is read from Zone 1, the pixel units in the ROI 1 area are enabled for exposure, until the last time data is read from Zone N, the pixel units in the ROI N area are enabled for exposure, so that from ROI 0 to ROI N area, in the column direction of the pixel array 101, the addresses of the pixel units are random, thereby realizing random out-of-order scanning. During random out-of-order scanning, since the position of the pixel unit turned on each time is random, the pixel positions turned on for two consecutive exposures are usually not adjacent, which can effectively reduce the crosstalk interference between adjacent exposure areas and reduce the exposure of the human eye to the detection light for a longer time, thereby improving the anti-interference and eye safety of the dtof lidar.

[0070] like Figure 3As shown in (d), when scanning is repeated, from the 1st to the Nth ROI area, in the column direction of the pixel array 101, the addresses of at least some pixel units are fixed, that is, the ROI area information scanned multiple times is written into each storage partition in sequence, and at least some storage partitions have the same ROI area information, for example, Zone 0, Zone 1, and Zone 2 are all written with the ROI area information of the row address H, so that the first time data is read from Zone 0, the pixel units in the ROI 0 area are turned on for exposure, the second time data is read from Zone 1, the pixel units in the ROI 1 area are turned on for exposure, until the last time data is read from Zone N, the pixel units in the ROI N area are turned on for exposure, so that from ROI 0 to ROI N area in the column direction of the pixel array 101, the addresses of some pixel units (pixel units in ROI 0 to ROI 2 areas) are fixed, and the pixel units at the row address H are scanned three times, thereby realizing multiple repeated scanning of a specific angle to meet the more accurate ranging requirements of a specific angle in the ranging field of view.

[0071] In one embodiment, Figure 1 As shown, the DTof sensor 1 supporting ROI area exposure provided by the utility model also includes a register 105 connected to the system controller 104 and the host computer; the register 105 is used to receive the second configuration information sent by the host computer; the second configuration information includes: N ROI areas, the size of one ROI area; the system controller 104 is also used to control the N ROI areas to complete exposure according to the second configuration information.

[0072] In this embodiment, when writing ROI area information in the storage partition of SRAM103, not all storage space is necessarily filled, in order to avoid invalid data reading and reducing ranging efficiency, a register 105 is further provided in the dtof sensor 1, and the second configuration information is received through the register 105. The second configuration information includes N ROI areas and the size of an ROI area, so as to control the range of data reading from SRAM103 by the system controller 104, and further control the N ROI areas to complete exposure.

[0073] Specifically, when the SRAM controller 102 writes the ROI region information in each storage partition, each ROI region information includes a number of coordinate information to determine the position of the turned-on pixel unit, such as Figure 2As shown, a Zone of SRAM 103 has 16 addresses into which the coordinate information of the ROI area can be written, namely, seg0 to seg15. Under the configuration of register 105, the system controller 104 can flexibly read the data in the corresponding number of Zones from SRAM 103 based on the number of ROI areas and the size of an ROI area, as well as the address range of the coordinate information read from the Zone each time, so that exposure control can be performed based on the actual data writing situation and the scanning dimension requirements, thereby realizing efficient one-dimensional scanning or two-dimensional scanning.

[0074] For example, during one-dimensional scanning, the light bar is a whole in the horizontal direction, and each zone of SRAM103 stores the ROI area information where a light bar is located, and each ROI area includes 16 coordinate information of seg0 to seg15, that is, the ROI area information where the light bar is located is further divided into the coordinate information of the pixel units where the 16 sub-light bars are located, and the size of the ROI area corresponding to a light bar is constituted by the 16 coordinate information. If only part of the storage space is enabled, such as 9 zones, or only the data of 9 zones need to be read for exposure, 9 ROI areas are configured in register 105, and 16 coordinate information is read each time as the size of a ROI area, so that when the exposure control starts to read data from the first zone, all 16 coordinate information in the zone are read each time to control the pixel unit where the first light bar is located to turn on, until all 16 coordinate information is read from the ninth zone to control the pixel unit where the ninth light bar is located to turn on, and the exposure can be completed without continuing to read data in other zones, thereby improving the exposure efficiency.

[0075] For another example, during two-dimensional scanning, the light strip is divided into multiple sub-light strips in the horizontal direction, such as Figure 4 and 5 As shown, each Zone of SRAM103 stores ROI area information of 16 sub-light strips in the same horizontal direction, and each ROI area where a sub-light strip is located corresponds to one coordinate information. If 16 ROI areas need to be exposed, and the size of one ROI area is the size of the ROI area corresponding to one sub-light strip, 16 ROI areas are configured in register 105, and one coordinate information is read each time as the size of one ROI area, so that when the exposure control is performed, data is read from the first Zone, and one coordinate information in the Zone is read each time to control the pixel unit where the first sub-light strip is located to turn on, until the 16th coordinate information is read from the first Zone to control the pixel unit where the 16th sub-light strip is located to turn on, and if scanned in sequence, the exposure process of a complete light strip in the horizontal direction can be completed at this time.

[0076] Similarly, the size of the ROI area for each exposure during two-dimensional scanning can be configured through register 105. For example, if the size of an ROI area is the size of the ROI area corresponding to four sub-light strips, it can be configured to read four coordinate information in the Zone each time to control the pixel units where the four sub-light strips are located to turn on. In this case, the exposure of one light strip can be completed by exposing four times; if it is configured to read 16 coordinate information in the Zone each time to control the pixel units where the 16 sub-light strips are located to turn on, it is equivalent to switching to one-dimensional scanning, thereby satisfying the exposure control in different scenes, and significantly improving the flexibility and scene adaptability of dtof ranging.

[0077] It can be understood that two-dimensional scanning can also realize the sequential scanning, reverse scanning, random scanning and repeated scanning processes in the above embodiments. It is only necessary to write the ROI area information of multiple scans into each storage partition in the order of the row and column addresses on the pixel array 101 corresponding to the scanning requirements. For example, Zone (0,0) corresponds to the ROI area information written into SPAD (0,0), and Zone (0,1) corresponds to the ROI area information written into SPAD (0,1), and so on until the last scan, Zone (0,M) corresponds to the ROI area information written into SPAD (0,M), thereby realizing sequential scanning; Zone (0,0) corresponds to the ROI area information written into SPAD (0,M). Zone information, Zone (0,1) corresponds to the ROI area information written into SPAD (0,M-1), and so on until the last scan, Zone (0,M) corresponds to the ROI area information written into SPAD (0,0), thereby realizing reverse scanning; Zone (0,0) corresponds to the ROI area information written into SPAD (0,J), Zone (0,1) corresponds to the ROI area information written into SPAD (0,M), and so on, thereby realizing random out-of-order scanning; Zone (0,0), (0,1), and (0,2) all correspond to the ROI area information written into SPAD (0,H), thereby scanning the ROI (0,H) area three times, realizing repeated scanning of a specific ROI area.

[0078] In one embodiment, the ROI region information includes the number of segments of a ROI region, the number of pixels contained in a segment, and the coordinates of each pixel in each segment.

[0079] In this embodiment, the ROI area information includes the number of segments of an ROI area. By further configuring the number of pixels contained in each segment and the coordinates of each pixel in each segment, more accurate ROI area exposure control can be achieved. For example, when an ROI area is divided into 16 segments, each segment includes n*m pixel units, each pixel unit can further include a number of SPADs such as 3*3, and the number of pixel units contained in each segment can be the same or different. In the ROI area information, the segment numbers of the 16 segments are represented by including seg0-seg15, and the coordinate information corresponding to each segment number includes the coordinates of each pixel in the corresponding segment.

[0080] Specifically, for the convenience of configuration, an ROI area can be evenly divided into multiple segments, and each segment contains the same number of pixel units in the horizontal direction. In this case, the horizontal coordinates of the pixels in each segment can be determined by the segment number. Therefore, when configuring the coordinates of each pixel in each segment, it is only necessary to configure the vertical coordinates. For example, when n rows of pixel units in each segment are adjacent, it is only necessary to configure the vertical coordinates of one vertex in the seg, such as the vertical coordinates of the upper left corner, to represent the pixel position of a segment. As the vertical coordinates read during exposure control change, the n rows of pixels turned on each time move as a whole in the column direction of the pixel array 101, so that the system controller 104 controls the adjacent n rows of pixel units to be turned on for exposure during exposure. When the n rows of pixel units in each segment are not adjacent, it is necessary to configure the vertical coordinates of n vertices in the seg, that is, the vertical coordinates of the upper left corner of each row of pixels. The vertical coordinates of the n rows of pixels turned on each time during exposure control are independent and non-adjacent, so that the system controller 104 controls the non-adjacent n rows of pixel units to be turned on for exposure during exposure.

[0081] That is to say, based on the ROI area information written into SRAM103, the position of the pixel units contained in an ROI area turned on for each exposure is highly adjustable, which can meet the exposure scanning requirements of light strips with different fineness. It can be understood that when the light strips at the transmitting end are thin enough, the fineness of the exposure control can be further improved, that is, the coordinates of each SPAD are configured in the ROI area information. For example, a pixel unit includes 3*3 SPADs, then on the basis of configuring the vertical coordinate of the upper left corner of n rows of pixels, the vertical coordinates of the 3 SPADs in each row are further configured, so that the corresponding SPAD can be accurately controlled to be turned on each time the exposure control is performed, thereby achieving more precise and accurate ROI area exposure control.

[0082] In one embodiment, the graphics presented by the i-th ROI area on the pixel array 101 are: a straight line, a curve, or a slant line;

[0083] Correspondingly, the coordinates of the upper left corner pixels in each segment are connected into a line, and the shape of the line is presented as a straight line, a curve, or a diagonal line.

[0084] In this embodiment, ideally, when a certain subarea of ​​the transmitting end emits light, the light bar falling on the pixel array 101 is a straight line, that is, Figure 3 As shown in the ROI regions, by configuring the ROI region information, the i-th opened ROI region can be presented as a straight line on the pixel array 101, that is, the vertical coordinates of the pixel units contained in the i-th ROI region are all the same. At this time, the coordinates of the upper left corner pixels of each segment in the ROI region are connected into a line, and the shape of the connecting line presents a straight line to meet the ROI region exposure under the ideal ranging condition.

[0085] And as Figure 6 As shown, under the rotation error caused by the module assembly, the laser light bar may appear as a tilted shape on the receiving chip. In order to match the tilted ROI area shape, the pixel position of the tilted light bar on the pixel array 101 can be calibrated in advance, for example, the light bar is divided into the same number of sub-light bars based on the number of segments contained in each ROI area, and the vertical coordinate of each sub-light bar on the pixel array 101 is obtained as calibration data. During exposure control, the ROI area information is configured based on the calibration data, so that the position of each segment is offset accordingly in the vertical direction, so that the i-th opened ROI area appears as an oblique line matching the light bar on the pixel array 101, that is, the coordinate information of each segment in the i-th ROI area is adjusted through the calibration data, so that the coordinates of the upper left corner pixel of each segment in the ROI area are connected into a line, and the shape of the connecting line presents an oblique line matching the light bar, so as to meet the ROI area exposure under the module assembly error.

[0086] Similarly, if Figure 7 As shown, due to the inconsistency of the optical lens, the laser may be distorted and bent when it comes out of the transmitting lens and then to the receiving lens. In order to match the curved ROI area shape, the corresponding calibration data can be obtained in the same calibration method as the tilted light strip. During exposure control, the ROI area information is configured based on the calibration data, so that the position of each segment is offset accordingly in the vertical direction, so that the i-th opened ROI area is presented as a curve matching the light strip on the pixel array 101, that is, the coordinate information of each segment in the i-th ROI area is adjusted by the calibration data, so that the coordinates of the upper left corner pixel of each segment in the ROI area are connected into a line, and the shape of the connecting line presents a curve matching the light strip, so as to meet the ROI area exposure under the distortion and bending error of the optical lens.

[0087] In one embodiment, the N ROI regions are distributed on the pixel array 101 as follows:

[0088] The number of turned-on pixel units in the middle of the pixel array 101 is large, and the number of turned-on pixel units in the upper and lower sides of the pixel array 101 is small.

[0089] In this embodiment, since the ROI area information is written into SRAM103 to control the ROI area exposure, the position of the ROI area for each exposure can be flexibly controlled. Therefore, in some scenes, the number and position distribution of the opened ROI areas can be configured according to the angular resolution requirements of different areas in the ranging field of view, so as to improve the ranging efficiency and save power consumption while meeting the ranging requirements.

[0090] Specifically, in the use scenario of solid-state laser radar, it may be required that within the field of view (FOV), the angular resolution of the middle area is high and the angular resolution of the upper and lower sides is low. In this case, the position of the ROI area, that is, the position of the turned-on pixel unit, can be controlled by configuring the coordinate position of each Zone in SRAM103, so that the ROI area is denser in the middle area of ​​the pixel array 101 and sparser on both sides. Figure 8 As shown, the dark area is the ROI area where the corresponding information is written in the SRAM103, which is concentrated in the middle position of the pixel array 101. For example, the number of ROI areas continuously distributed in the middle position is greater than the first preset lower limit, so that the number of pixel units turned on in the middle position of the pixel array 101 during ranging is large; the light area is the non-ROI area where the corresponding information is not written in the SRAM103, that is, the pixel position that is not turned on, which is more distributed in the upper and lower positions of the pixel array 101. For example, the number of non-ROI areas continuously distributed in the upper and lower positions is greater than the second preset lower limit, so that the number of pixel units turned on in the upper and lower positions of the pixel array 101 is small. In this way, some pixel units on the pixel array 101 are turned on, meeting the angular resolution while saving detection power consumption.

[0091] In one embodiment, the DTof sensor 1 supporting ROI area exposure provided by the utility model includes two SRAMs 103 with different ROI area information; the system controller 104 is also used to read the ROI area information in the first SRAM 103 in the first frame and control the corresponding pixel unit to turn on; in the second frame, read the ROI area information in the second SRAM 103 and control the corresponding pixel unit to turn on.

[0092] In this embodiment, on the basis of using SRAM103 to store the ROI area information of each scan, dynamic and efficient ROI switching can be achieved by adding another SRAM103, but the ROI area information stored in the two SRAM103 is different. That is, in the first frame, the system controller 104 reads the ROI area information in the first SRAM103 and controls the corresponding pixel unit to turn on; in the second frame, the system controller 104 reads the ROI area information in the second SRAM103 and controls the corresponding pixel unit to turn on. For example, the first frame scans the depth information of the entire FOV field of view through the ROI area information configured in the first SRAM103, and the second frame switches to the second SRAM103, and only scans the depth information of the FOV field of view in the middle area based on the ROI area information configured in the first SRAM103. This scanning combination greatly improves the efficiency of the laser radar. Of course, in other embodiments, switching between different SRAMs 103 can be performed in each frame, so that the scanning order of ROI can be dynamically changed through different SRAMs 103, so that the scanning of each frame is in a different order, thereby achieving the effect of reducing crosstalk and spatial anti-interference.

[0093] The utility model also provides an electronic device, such as Fig. 9 As shown, Fig. 9 This is a structural diagram of an electronic device in an embodiment of the utility model. The electronic device can be, for example, a mobile phone, a car controller, etc., which includes a dtof sensor 1, a transmitter 2 and an MCU3 supporting ROI area exposure as described above. The MCU3 is connected to the dtof sensor 1 and the transmitter 2 respectively. The MCU3 is used to send a first configuration information to the dtof sensor 1 and a transmission control signal corresponding to the first configuration information to the transmitter 2, thereby realizing a dtof ranging process for flexible ROI area exposure. Since the above embodiments have introduced the structure of the dtof sensor and the ROI area exposure process in detail, please refer to the above corresponding embodiments for details, and no further description is given here.

[0094] In summary, the present utility model provides a dtof sensor and an electronic device that support ROI region exposure. The dtof sensor includes an SRAM controller, an SRAM, a system controller, and a pixel array connected in sequence. The SRAM controller is configured to receive first configuration information sent by a host computer and write the first configuration information into a storage partition of the SRAM. The first configuration information is ROI region information. The SRAM is used to store ROI region information of multiple single scans. The system controller is configured to read the i-th ROI region information stored in the i-th storage partition of the SRAM, control the pixel units included in the i-th ROI region on the pixel array to be turned on, where 1 ≤ i < N, and after the turned-on pixel units complete exposure, turn off the pixel units, and then read the (i + 1)-th ROI region information from the (i + 1)-th storage partition of the SRAM until the exposure of N ROI regions is completed. By storing ROI region information in the SRAM, the pixel units included in each ROI region are controlled to be turned on to complete exposure, thereby realizing flexible ROI region exposure and improving ranging flexibility.

[0095] The above content is a further detailed description of the present utility model in combination with specific preferred embodiments. It cannot be determined that the specific implementation of the present utility model is only limited to these descriptions. For those skilled in the technical field to which the present utility model belongs, without departing from the concept of the present utility model, several equivalent substitutions or obvious modifications can be made, and as long as the performance or use is the same, they should all be regarded as belonging to the protection scope of the present utility model.

Claims

1. A dtof sensor supporting ROI area exposure, characterized in that: It includes an SRAM controller, an SRAM, a system controller and a pixel array connected in sequence, wherein the SRAM controller is also connected to a host computer; an input end of the system controller is connected to the SRAM, and an output end is connected to the pixel array; The SRAM controller is used to receive the first configuration information sent by the host computer; and writing the first configuration information into a storage partition of the SRAM, wherein the first configuration information is ROI area information; The SRAM includes a plurality of storage partitions for storing ROI area information of a plurality of single scans; The system controller is used to read the i-th ROI area information stored in the i-th storage partition in the SRAM, and control the pixel units contained in the i-th ROI area on the pixel array to turn on, 1≤i <N; After the turned-on pixel unit completes exposure, the pixel unit is turned off, and then the i+1th ROI area information is read from the i+1th storage partition in the SRAM until the N ROI areas are controlled to complete exposure; The system controller is a dedicated integrated circuit implemented based on digital logic.

2. The dtof sensor supporting ROI area exposure according to claim 1, characterized in that: The N ROI regions are distributed on the pixel array as follows: From the 1st to the Nth ROI area, the addresses of the pixel units are increasing in the column direction of the pixel array; Alternatively, from the 1st to the Nth ROI region, in the column direction of the pixel array, the addresses of the pixel units are decreasing; Alternatively, from the 1st to the Nth ROI region, in the column direction of the pixel array, the addresses of the pixel units are random; Alternatively, from the 1st to the Nth ROI region, in the column direction of the pixel array, the addresses of the pixel units are fixed.

3. The dtof sensor supporting ROI area exposure according to claim 1, characterized in that: The system controller is specifically used for: According to the address sequence of the SRAM storage partitions, data is read starting from the first storage partition until data is read from the Nth storage partition; Correspondingly, the control starts from turning on the pixel units included in the first ROI area to turning on the pixel units included in the Nth ROI area.

4. The dtof sensor supporting ROI area exposure according to claim 1, characterized in that: Also includes registers connected to the system controller and the host computer; The register is used to receive second configuration information sent by the host computer; the second configuration information includes: N ROI areas and the size of one ROI area; The system controller is further configured to control the N ROI regions to complete exposure according to the second configuration information.

5. The dtof sensor supporting ROI area exposure according to claim 1, characterized in that: The ROI region information includes the number of segments of an ROI region, the number of pixels contained in a segment, and the coordinates of each pixel in each segment.

6. The dtof sensor supporting ROI area exposure according to claim 5, characterized in that: The graphics presented by the i-th ROI area on the pixel array are: a straight line, a curve, or a slant line; Correspondingly, the coordinates of the upper left corner pixels in each segment are connected into a line, and the shape of the line is presented as a straight line, a curve, or a diagonal line.

7. The dtof sensor supporting ROI area exposure according to claim 1, characterized in that: The N ROI regions are distributed on the pixel array as follows: The number of turned-on pixel units in the middle of the pixel array is large, and the number of turned-on pixel units in the upper and lower sides of the pixel array is small.

8. The dtof sensor supporting ROI area exposure according to claim 1, characterized in that: The ROI area information also includes information for controlling laser emission, including exposure time, waiting time, laser repetition rate, and laser pulse width; for each ROI area, the corresponding laser is controlled to adopt different exposure strategies according to the laser emission information.

9. The dtof sensor supporting ROI area exposure according to claim 1, characterized in that: Including two SRAMs with different ROI area information; The system controller is also used to read the ROI area information in the first SRAM and control the corresponding pixel unit to turn on in the first frame; and read the ROI area information in the second SRAM and control the corresponding pixel unit to turn on in the second frame.

10. An electronic device, characterized in that: The device comprises a dtof sensor, a transmitter and an MCU supporting ROI area exposure as described in any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the MCU is connected to the dtof sensor and the transmitter respectively; The MCU is used to send first configuration information to the dtof sensor, and send a transmission control signal corresponding to the first configuration information to the transmitter.

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