TDC device, distance measuring device and correction method

Abstract

To improve measurement accuracy while operating to measure a distance to an object.SOLUTION: A TDC device 101 comprises: a TDC circuit 1 having a delay circuit including multi-stage delay elements configured to sequentially delay a measurement signal and multiple storage elements provided to correspond to the multi-stage delay elements and configured to retain outputs of the multi-stage delay elements in response to input measurement clocks; an edge detection unit 2 configured to detect a detection stage of the delay element that detected at least a rising edge of the measurement signal on the basis of switching of outputs of the multiple storage elements; and a delay amount correction unit 4 configured to output a delay time of the measurement signal with a delay amount corrected by adding or subtracting a delay correction amount to / from a delay amount corresponding to a detection stage on a delay conversion table pertaining to detection stages of the delay elements and delay amounts of multiple delay elements.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a TDC device, a distance measuring device and a correction method. [Background technology]

[0002] In a distance measuring device that measures the distance to an object, a TDC (time to digital converter) circuit is used to detect the time of flight of light from the time when light is emitted to the time when the reflected light is received. The TDC circuit is a circuit that digitizes time information. A method using a delay element and a flip-flop is often used in this TDC circuit. In this TDC circuit, the delay amount of the delay element varies depending on the manufacturing conditions of the semiconductor device or the temperature change during operation (so-called PVT (Process Voltage Temperature) fluctuation). If the delay amount of the delay element varies, it affects the measurement accuracy in the TDC circuit. Therefore, in the distance measuring device, a calibration operation is performed in which a calibration signal is input to the TDC circuit at a timing when the distance measurement operation is not performed, and the delay amount of each delay element of the TDC circuit is estimated.

[0003] Patent Document 1 discloses a method for calibrating the variation in delay time of a delay element so that the element operates normally against PVT fluctuations. The method described in Patent Document 1 adjusts the amount of bias current for the delay element to achieve a target delay time. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] JP 2012-114716 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] Incidentally, when a calibration operation is performed in a distance measuring device, it is desirable to complete the calibration operation in as short a time as possible since the distance measurement operation cannot be performed. For this reason, in the calibration operation, it is necessary to input many more pulses (calibration signals) to the TDC circuit in a short time than in the measurement operation. If pulses are continuously input to the TDC circuit in a short time, the voltage drop at which the power supply voltage value of the circuit falls below a predetermined voltage value becomes larger than in the measurement operation. In other words, the voltage drop in the circuit differs between the calibration operation and the measurement operation. This difference in voltage drop causes the delay amount of the delay element to differ between the calibration operation and the measurement operation. As a result, even if the delay amount of the delay element is estimated in the calibration operation, it is difficult to obtain an appropriate delay amount. Distance measurement There is a risk that it will not be possible to do so.

[0006] Therefore, one example of the object of the present invention is to provide a TDC device, a distance measuring device, and a correction method that can improve the measurement accuracy during distance measurement to an object while reducing the effects of fluctuations in the amount of voltage drop in the power supply voltage of the TDC circuit during calibration operation. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] (1) In order to achieve the above object, a TDC device according to one aspect of the present invention includes a TDC circuit having a delay circuit including multiple stages of delay elements that sequentially delay a measurement signal, and multiple memory elements that are provided corresponding to the multiple stages of delay elements and hold outputs of the multiple stages of delay elements in response to an input measurement clock, an edge detection unit that detects a detection stage of a delay element that has detected at least a rising edge of a measurement signal based on switching of the outputs of the multiple memory elements, and step and a delay amount correction unit that outputs the delay time of the measurement signal with the delay amount corrected by adding or subtracting a correction delay amount to the delay amount corresponding to the detection stage in a delay conversion table related to the delay amount of the delay element.

[0008] This TDC device can improve the measurement accuracy when measuring the distance to an object while reducing the effect of fluctuations in the amount of voltage drop in the power supply voltage of the TDC circuit during calibration.

[0009] (2) The TDC device of (1) above inputs a calibration signal having a different period from the measurement clock to the delay circuit of the TDC circuit, and each detection stage of the delay element that detects the rising edge of the calibration signal and a plurality of step The delay conversion table generating unit may further include a delay conversion table generating unit for generating a delay conversion table relating to the delay amount of the delay element.

[0010] In this case, the delay conversion table can be generated during calibration.

[0011] (3) In the TDC device of (2) above, the delay amount of the delay conversion table generating unit may be a cumulative delay amount of the delay elements from the first stage to each detection stage of a plurality of stages of delay elements.

[0012] In this case, the cumulative delay amount of the delay elements from the first stage to each detection stage of the multiple stages of delay elements can be obtained from the delay conversion table.

[0013] (4) The delay correction unit of the TDC device in (3) above is The number of detections of the rising edge of the calibration signal in the delay element in the i-th stage is h i , Maximum number of stages is X max , the predetermined correction step number is X C When the total number of detections of the rising edge of the calibration signal at each delay element is represented as N, the following formula is obtained.

number

[0014] In this case, the correction delay amount can be calculated.

[0015] (5) Furthermore, a distance measuring device according to one aspect of the present invention is characterized in that it comprises a TDC device such as any one of (1) to (4) above, a light-projecting unit that irradiates measurement light in synchronization with a measurement clock, a light-receiving unit that receives reflected light of the measurement light reflected by an object and outputs a measurement signal related to the reflected light to the TDC device, and a distance calculation unit that calculates the distance to the object from the time difference between the measurement light and the reflected light after the delay amount has been corrected in the TDC device.

[0016] The distance measuring device can improve the measurement accuracy during distance measurement operations.

[0017] (6) The distance measuring device described in (5) above may include at least one of an optical deflection unit that deflects the measurement light irradiated from the light projecting unit in a predetermined direction, and an optical scanning unit that scans the measurement light in a predetermined direction.

[0018] In this case, the measurement light can be deflected in a predetermined direction or scanned in a predetermined direction.

[0019] (7) A correction method according to one aspect of the present invention is a correction method for a TDC device including a delay circuit including multiple stages of delay elements that sequentially delay a measurement signal, and a TDC circuit having a plurality of memory elements that are provided corresponding to the multiple stages of delay elements and hold outputs of the multiple stages of delay elements in response to an input measurement clock, the correction method comprising: detecting a detection stage of a delay element that has detected at least a rising edge of a measurement signal based on switching of outputs of the multiple memory elements; step The delay time of the measurement signal with the delay amount corrected is output by adding or subtracting the correction delay amount to the delay amount corresponding to the detection stage in the delay conversion table related to the delay amount of the delay element.

[0020] This makes it possible to improve the measurement accuracy when measuring the distance to the target object while reducing the effect of fluctuations in the amount of voltage drop during the calibration operation. Effect of the Invention

[0021] According to the present invention, it is possible to improve the measurement accuracy during the operation of measuring the distance to an object while reducing the influence of fluctuations in the amount of voltage drop during, for example, a calibration operation. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0022] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a distance measuring device according to an embodiment. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a TDC circuit. [Diagram 3] FIG. 3 is a diagram showing operation waveforms of the TDC circuit of FIG. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing waveforms of the measurement signal and the measurement clock input to the TDC circuit. [Diagram 5] FIG. 5 is a diagram showing waveforms of a calibration signal and a measurement clock. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 is a histogram showing the results of detecting the rising edges of the calibration signal. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a cumulative histogram. [Figure 8] FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a delay conversion table. [Figure 9] FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the amount of delay before and after correction. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is a characteristic diagram showing the effect of the operation of the TDC device. [Figure 11] FIG. 11 is a flow diagram illustrating the operation of the TDC device. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0023] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a distance measuring device according to this embodiment.

[0024] The distance measuring device 100 according to this embodiment is a device that irradiates a measuring light, receives the light reflected by the object, and calculates the distance to the object based on the timing of receiving the reflected light. The distance measuring device 100 includes a TDC device 101, a distance calculation unit 102, a light projection unit 103, a light receiving unit 104, a light deflection unit 105, a light scanning unit 106, and a power supply unit 107.

[0025] The light projecting unit 103 includes, for example, a light source and a light source driving unit (not shown). The light source is, for example, a semiconductor laser or an LED. The light source driving unit is a circuit that drives the light emission of the light source. The light projecting unit 103 irradiates the measurement light toward a reflecting unit of the light deflection unit 105 (described later). The measurement light is, for example, pulsed light having a pulse width of several nanoseconds to several tens of nanoseconds.

[0026] The optical deflection unit 105 has a reflecting unit such as a mirror and deflects the measurement light from the light projecting unit 103 that is incident on the reflecting unit in a predetermined direction. The optical scanning unit 106 scans the measurement light deflected by the optical deflection unit 105 in a predetermined direction, for example, the horizontal direction or the vertical direction. The distance measuring device 100 may be configured to include only either the optical deflection unit 105 or the optical scanning unit 106.

[0027] The light receiving unit 104 includes a light receiving element such as an avalanche photodiode, receives the measurement light reflected by an object, and converts the light intensity of the received reflected light into an electrical signal. When the light receiving unit 104 receives the reflected light, it outputs an electrical signal related to the reflected light (hereinafter, referred to as a measurement signal) to the TDC device 101.

[0028] The TDC device 101 is a device that measures the time difference between the measurement light and the reflected light from the time when the light projecting unit 103 irradiates the measurement light to the time when the reflected light is received by the light receiving unit 104. The TDC device 101 will be described in detail later.

[0029] The distance calculation unit 102 calculates the distance to the object from the time difference between the measurement light and the reflected light measured by the TDC device 101. The distance calculation unit 102 is realized, for example, by a CPU executing a program. A method for calculating distance based on the time difference between the measurement light and the reflected light is called a TOF (Time Of Flight) method, and the distance d to the object is calculated by the following formula: Here, C is the speed of light, and ΔT is the time difference between the measurement light and the reflected light. d=(1 / 2)×C×ΔT

[0030] The power supply unit 107 outputs a predetermined power supply voltage to each of the TDC device 101, the distance calculation unit 102, the light projection unit 103, the light receiving unit 104, the light deflection unit 105, and the light scanning unit 106 provided in the distance measuring device 100 to supply power for their operation. The power supply unit 107 may include an input terminal to which power is supplied from outside the distance measuring device 100.

[0031] The TDC device 101 measures the time difference between the measurement light and the reflected light as a delay time from the time when a measurement start signal corresponding to the measurement light is input until the time when a measurement signal corresponding to the reflected light is detected. The TDC device 101 will be described below.

[0032] The TDC device 101 of this embodiment includes a TDC circuit 1, an edge detection unit 2, a delay conversion table generation unit 3, and a delay amount correction unit 4. These may be configured with dedicated hardware, or components that can be realized by software may be realized by a CPU executing a program.

[0033] Fig. 2 is a diagram showing a TDC circuit 1. The TDC 1 shown in Fig. 2 is a so-called Vernier type TDC circuit. The TDC circuit 1 includes a first delay circuit 11, a second delay circuit 12, a flip-flop row 13, and a synchronization circuit 14. Note that the TDC circuit 1 may be a flash type TDC circuit that does not include the second delay circuit 12. The flip-flop row 13 is an example of a memory element that can operate at high speed.

[0034] In the first delay circuit 11, a measurement signal is input to an input terminal Vref. The measurement signal is a signal of reflected light that is irradiated from a light projecting unit 103 and reflected by an object and received by a light receiving unit 104. The first delay circuit 11 includes n stages (n is an integer of 1 or more) of delay elements 11. n Each delay element 11 n The delay (also called delay time) of s Each delay element is set to n The output nodes of are denoted as S1, S2, S3, Sn.

[0035] In the second delay circuit 12, a measurement clock is input to an input terminal Vck. The measurement clock is a clock for detecting the time difference between the measurement light and the reflected light. The light projecting unit 103 emits the measurement light at the rising edge of the measurement clock. The second delay circuit 12, like the first delay circuit 11, includes n-stage delay elements 12. n Each delay element 12 n The delay of is τ c (<τ s ) is set for each delay element. n The output nodes of are denoted as C1, C2, C3, · · Cn.

[0036] A pair of delay elements 111 and 121, a pair of delay elements 112 and 122, etc. n and delay element 12 n For each pair of delay elements 111 and 121, the output terminals of each pair are connected to a flip-flop, which will be described later. In the following, the delay elements 111 and 121 are the first-stage delay elements, the delay elements 112 and 122 are the second-stage delay elements, and so on. n and delay element 12 n is called the nth stage delay element.

[0037] The flip-flop row 13 includes n D-flip-flops (hereinafter referred to as D-FF) 13. n (n is an integer equal to or greater than 1). In this embodiment, the D-FF 131 corresponds to the first-stage delay element, and the D-FF 13 ncorresponds to the n-th delay element. For details, see D-FF13 n The D terminal of the delay element 11 n The CK terminal is connected to the output node Sn of the delay element 12. n The output node Cn of D-FF13 is connected to the n The Q terminal of each D-FF 13 is connected to the synchronization circuit 14. n The output nodes of are denoted as D1, D2, D3, · · Dn.

[0038] The synchronization circuit 14 includes D-FF131 to D-FF133. n This is a circuit that outputs the output value of in sync with the measurement clock.

[0039] Fig. 3 is a diagram showing the operation waveforms of the TDC circuit 1 in Fig. 2. In this example, the measurement signal from the input terminal Vref rises from an L level (hereinafter referred to as L) to an H level (hereinafter referred to as H), and the measurement clock from the input terminal Vck rises from L to H with a delay of a time difference Δt. In the example shown in Fig. 3, "H, H, L, L" are obtained as data at the output nodes D1 to D4 of D-FFs 131 to 134.

[0040] The edge detection unit 2 detects the rising or falling edge of the measurement signal based on the output value from the synchronization circuit 14 when the measurement signal and the measurement clock are input to the TDC circuit 1. Here, in this embodiment, the TDC circuit 1 in FIG. 2 includes 12 stages of delay elements (i.e., n=12) and 12 stages of D-FFs 131 to 13. 12 In this case, as described in FIG. 12 Assume that the measurement signal and measurement clock as shown in FIG. 4 are input so that "H, H, H, H, H, H, H, H, H, H, H, L, L" is obtained as data at output nodes D1 to D12.

[0041] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the waveforms of the measurement signal and measurement clock input to the TDC circuit 1. The edge detection unit 2 detects the rising edge of the measurement signal from the change between H and L of the signal. By the edge detection unit 2 detecting this rising edge, the TDC device 101 knows the number of delay element stages that detected H from when the measurement signal rises until when the measurement clock A rises. In other words, it knows the time interval from when the measurement signal rises until when the measurement clock A rises. The time interval is calculated by multiplying the delay amount (τ s -τ c ) (also called time resolution) and the number of stages of delay elements. In this way, the TDC device 101 can determine the time interval from the rising edge (or falling edge) of measurement clock B, which precedes measurement clock A, to the rising edge (or falling edge) of the measurement signal.

[0042] The delay conversion table generator 3 generates a delay conversion table. s -τ c ) varies due to variations in the manufacturing process. The delay conversion table varies (τ s -τ c ) is a table for calibrating the delay amount based on the delay time. More specifically, the delay conversion table is a table that indicates the relationship between each detection stage of a delay element that detects a rising (or falling) edge of a calibration signal, which will be described later, when the calibration signal is input to the TDC circuit 1, and the accumulated delay amount of the delay element up to that detection stage. Hereinafter, the operation of generating the delay conversion table is referred to as a calibration operation. The delay conversion table generating unit 3 performs the calibration operation when the distance measuring device 100 is not performing a distance measurement operation, that is, when a measurement signal is not input to the TDC circuit 1.

[0043] FIG. 5 is a diagram showing waveforms of a calibration signal and a measurement clock. In the calibration operation, the delay conversion table generating unit 3 inputs a calibration signal to the input terminal Vref (see FIG. 2) from a clock generating circuit (not shown). The measurement clock is input to the input terminal Vck. The calibration signal is a signal whose period is slightly different from that of the measurement clock and is not synchronized with the measurement clock. The period of the calibration signal is variable, and the difference between the period of the calibration signal and the period of the measurement clock is the time resolution of the TDC circuit 1 (τ s -τ c For example, when the time resolution of the TDC circuit 1 is 10 [ps], and the period of the measurement clock is 4 [ns], the period of the calibration signal is preferably set in the range of more than 4 and less than 4.016 [ns].

[0044] When the delay conversion table generation unit 3 receives the calibration signal, it measures the number of rising edges and the number of falling edges of the detected calibration signal for each stage of delay elements in the TDC circuit 1 (12 stages in FIG. 5), as shown in FIG.

[0045] FIG. 6 is a histogram showing the result of detecting the rising edge of the calibration signal. The delay conversion table generating unit 3 generates a histogram showing the result of detecting the rising edge of the calibration signal. FIG. 6 shows the result of inputting a calibration signal so that the total number of rising edges of the calibration signal detected by the delay elements of each stage (hereinafter referred to as the total number of detections) is "36". In this figure, the number of rising edges of the calibration signal detected by the first stage delay element (hereinafter referred to as the number of detections) is "7". The number of detections at the eighth stage is "0". This represents the amount of delay possessed by the delay elements of each stage. For example, if the period of the measurement clock is 4 [ns], the total number of detections "36" corresponds to the period of the measurement clock of 4 [ns]. Therefore, the amount of delay possessed by the first stage delay element is 7 / 36×4 [ns].

[0046] Next, the delay conversion table generating unit 3 generates a cumulative histogram from the histogram shown in Fig. 6 in order to estimate the cumulative delay amount of the delay elements up to each stage. Fig. 7 is a diagram showing a cumulative histogram. The cumulative histogram in Fig. 7 is generated by adding the detection number in the last stage, the 8th stage, to the detection number in the 7th stage in the histogram in Fig. 6, and then adding the added detection number in the 7th stage to the detection number in the 6th stage, in order from the last delay element to the 1st delay element. The result obtained by the above calculation is called the cumulative detection number (vertical axis in Fig. 7).

[0047] The reason for performing cumulative processing from the last-stage delay element to the first-stage delay element is as follows. The delay amount of the first-stage delay element shown in Figure 6, 7 / 36 x 4 [ns], is the delay amount from when the measurement signal rises in the first-stage delay element to when measurement clock A rises in Figure 4. What is needed for distance measurement calculation is the delay amount from measurement clock B, which is one clock before measurement clock A in Figure 4, to when the measurement signal rises in the first-stage delay element. The delay amount from measurement clock B is the cumulative delay amount of the delay elements from the delay element that detected the rise of the measurement signal to the last stage.

[0048] Therefore, an accumulation process is performed to accumulate the delay amount from the last-stage delay element to the first-stage delay element. This makes it possible to calculate the time interval from measurement clock B to the rising edge of the measurement signal. This time interval can be calculated from the accumulated delay amount up to the delay element stage that detected the rising edge of the measurement signal, and can be calculated by (accumulated detection number) / (total detection number) x (measurement clock period). For example, if the measurement clock period is 4 ns and the rising edge of the measurement signal is detected by the first-stage delay element, the accumulated delay amount of the delay elements from measurement clock B, which is one stage before measurement clock A in Figure 4, to the first stage is 36 / 36 x 4 ns = 4 ns.

[0049] FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a delay conversion table. The delay conversion table generating unit 3 generates a table in which the cumulative detection count on the vertical axis of the cumulative histogram shown in FIG. 7 is converted into a delay amount. This table is called a delay conversion table. FIG. 8 shows a delay conversion table in the case where the period of the measurement clock is set to 4 [ns]. When the distance measuring device 100 performs a distance measurement operation, the delay amount corresponding to the stage of the delay element obtained from this delay conversion table is converted into a delay amount (τ s -τ c ) × the number of detection stages, the time interval between the measurement signal and measurement clock B described with reference to FIG. 4 can be obtained.

[0050] The delay conversion table generating unit 3 generates the delay conversion table shown in FIG. 8 for each of the rising and falling edges of the calibration signal.

[0051] The delay amount correction unit 4 corrects the delay conversion table generated by the delay conversion table generation unit 3. As described above, the voltage drop of the power supply voltage of the TDC circuit 1 during calibration operation is larger than that during measurement operation. If the voltage drop is large, the delay amount of the delay element at each stage becomes larger than that at a certain power supply voltage, and the stage position corresponding to the period length of the measurement clock, i.e., the maximum number of stages that the delay conversion table has, becomes smaller. The maximum number of stages is the last stage of the delay elements that can detect the calibration signal. Therefore, the delay amount correction unit 4 performs a correction to increase the maximum number of stages that the delay conversion table has.

[0052] 9 is a diagram showing the delay amount before and after correction. Specifically, the delay amount correction unit 4 corrects the delay amount by adjusting the maximum number of stages X max , a predetermined correction step number X C The delay to be corrected is determined by adding X C For example, the delay amount correction unit 4 determines the maximum number of steps X from the maximum number of steps at which an edge is detected from the reflected light of an object by actually performing a measurement operation in advance. In this measurement operation, the position of the object reflecting the measurement light is manipulated so that the number of detected steps changes in sequence. maxCorrection step number X C In order to generate the delay amount obtained by adding up the delay elements, the cumulative delay amount t i , the correction delay amount t ci Add the correction delay amount t ci is derived by the following formula:

[0053]

number

[0054] Here, h i is the number of detections of the rising (or falling) edge of the calibration signal in the i-th delay element (histogram value in Fig. 6), and X max is the maximum number of stages in the delay conversion table before correction, X C is a predetermined number of correction stages. Furthermore, N is the total number of detections of the calibration signal, and is changed appropriately according to the calibration signal input to the TDC circuit 1.

[0055] The delay amount correction unit 4 may correct the delay amount of the delay conversion table every time the delay conversion table is generated, or may perform the correction under a predetermined condition. For example, the delay amount correction unit 4 holds the maximum number of stages in the delay conversion table generated in the first calibration operation. The delay amount correction unit 4 compares the maximum number of stages in the delay conversion table generated in the second calibration operation with the held maximum number of stages. If the difference between the two compared maximum numbers of stages exceeds a predetermined value, the delay amount correction unit 4 corrects the delay conversion table generated in the second calibration operation. The delay amount correction unit 4 holds the maximum number of stages in the delay conversion table after correction, and compares it with the maximum number of stages in the delay conversion table to be generated in the next calibration operation. If the difference between the two compared maximum numbers of stages exceeds a predetermined value, the delay amount correction unit 4 corrects the delay conversion table generated in the third calibration operation. On the other hand, if the delay conversion table generated in the second calibration operation is not corrected, the delay amount correction unit 4 compares the maximum number of stages in the delay conversion table generated in the first calibration operation with the maximum number of stages in the delay conversion table generated in the third calibration operation. This operation is repeated thereafter.

[0056] The TDC device 101 measures the time difference between the measurement light and the reflected light using the delay conversion table after correction, so to speak. For example, if the step number at which the rising edge of the measurement signal is detected is "4", the TDC device 101 obtains the cumulative delay amount corresponding to the step number "4" from the table in Fig. 8 and obtains the time interval from the measurement clock B (see Fig. 4). The TDC device 101 then calculates the time difference between the measurement light and the reflected light from the number of measurement clocks from when the measurement light is irradiated to the measurement clock B and the obtained time interval. The distance calculation unit 102 then performs a calculation to obtain the distance to the object based on the time difference measured by the TDC device 101 and the speed of light.

[0057] In this way, even if a delay conversion table with a smaller maximum number of stages is generated due to a voltage drop in the power supply voltage during a calibration operation, the influence of the voltage drop can be avoided by correcting the maximum number of stages in the delay conversion table. Then, by using the corrected delay conversion table, the measurement accuracy during a distance measurement operation can be improved.

[0058] Fig. 10 is a characteristic diagram showing the effect of the operation of the TDC device 101. The horizontal axis represents the delay time of the received light signal, and illustrates the error in the measured distance when the received light signal is delayed in increments of 5 psec. The dashed line represents the case before correction, and it can be seen that the distance error fluctuates greatly around 2000 psec, when the detection step of the delay element becomes large. On the other hand, when the correction of this embodiment is applied, the line is solid, and it can be seen that the fluctuation in the distance error has been reduced.

[0059] The delay amount correction unit 4 may correct the delay amount corresponding to the detection stage of the delay element based on the error of the delay amount specified at each detection stage, rather than the cumulative delay amount of the delay element up to the detection stage. Also, the delay amount may be corrected not only by adding the correction delay amount to the delay amount corresponding to the detection stage, but also by subtracting the correction delay amount. This is because, depending on the conditions, the voltage drop of the power supply voltage of the TDC circuit 1 during the measurement operation may be larger than that during the calibration operation.

[0060] A detected echo management unit may be provided between the TDC device 101 and the distance calculation unit 102. The rising edge and falling edge of the detected measurement signal (echo) are detected at different timings depending on the width (pulse length) of the echo. To smoothly perform the next process, the detected echo management unit adjusts the timing of both edges and passes them to the distance calculation unit 102 in unison. The edges are always in the order of rising and falling. For this reason, the detected echo management unit holds the count of rising edges until a falling edge is detected, and passes each count to the downstream distance calculation unit 102 when both edges are aligned. If the order of the edges is reversed, it is determined to be a detection error and the echo is removed.

[0061] Next, the operation of the TDC device 101 will be described. Fig. 11 is a flow chart showing the operation of the TDC device 101. In this embodiment, the correction method is implemented by operating the TDC device 101. Therefore, the explanation of the correction method in this embodiment will be replaced with the explanation of the operation of the TDC device 101 below.

[0062] The TDC device 101 performs a calibration operation at a timing when the distance measuring device 100 is not performing a distance measurement operation. First, the TDC device 101 inputs a calibration signal to the input terminal Vref of the TDC circuit 1 (S1). Next, the delay conversion table generating unit 3 generates the histogram of Fig. 6 (S2), and generates a cumulative histogram shown in Fig. 7 from the histogram (S3). After that, the delay conversion table generating unit 3 generates a delay conversion table shown in Fig. 8 (S4).

[0063] Then, the delay amount correction unit 4 corrects the delay amount by adding a predetermined number of stages to the maximum number of stages of delay elements in the delay conversion table (S5). The specific correction method is as described in FIG. [Explanation of symbols]

[0064] 1 TDC circuit 2 Edge detection section 3. Delay conversion table generator 4. Delay compensation section 11 First delay circuit 12 Second delay circuit 13 flip-flop row 14 Synchronization circuit 36 Total Detections 100 Rangefinder 101 TDC equipment 102 Distance calculation section 103 Light projector 104 Light receiving section 105 Light deflection section 106 Optical scanning unit 107 Power supply section

Claims

1. a TDC circuit including a delay circuit including a plurality of stages of delay elements that sequentially delay a measurement signal, and a plurality of storage elements provided corresponding to the plurality of stages of delay elements and that store outputs of the plurality of stages of delay elements in response to an input measurement clock; an edge detection unit that detects a detection stage of the delay element that detects at least a rising edge of the measurement signal based on switching of outputs of the plurality of memory elements; a delay conversion table generating unit that generates a delay conversion table relating to delay amounts of the delay elements of each detection stage of the delay element that detects a rising edge of the calibration signal by inputting a calibration signal having a cycle different from that of the measurement clock to the delay circuit of the TDC circuit; a delay amount correction unit that adds or subtracts a correction delay amount to the delay amount corresponding to the detection stage in the delay conversion table related to the delay amounts of the delay elements of the plurality of stages, and outputs a delay time of the measurement signal in which the delay amount has been corrected; A TDC device comprising:

2. The delay amount of the delay conversion table generation unit is a cumulative delay amount of the delay elements from a first stage to each detection stage of the multiple stages of delay elements.

2. The TDC device of claim 1.

3. The delay amount correction unit The number of detections of the rising edge of the calibration signal in the delay element of the i-th stage is h ｉ , the maximum number of stages of the delay elements in the delay conversion table is X ｍａｘ , a predetermined number of correction steps is X Ｃ , where the total number of detections of rising edges of the calibration signal at each delay element is represented as N, the following formula is used: [0010] The calculated correction delay amount t ｃｉ The cumulative delay amount t corresponding to the delay element of the i stage ｉ to correct the delay amount.

3. The TDC device of claim 2.

4. A TDC device according to any one of claims 1 to 3; a light projecting unit that projects measurement light in synchronization with the measurement clock; a light receiving unit that receives the measurement light reflected by an object and outputs a measurement signal related to the reflected light to the TDC device; a distance calculation unit that calculates a distance to an object from a time difference between the measurement light and the reflected light after the delay amount is corrected in the TDC device; A distance measuring device comprising:

5. The measuring device further includes at least one of an optical deflection unit that deflects the measurement light irradiated from the light projection unit in a predetermined direction and an optical scanning unit that scans the measurement light in a predetermined direction.

5. A distance measuring device according to claim 4.

6. A correction method for a TDC device including a delay circuit including multiple stages of delay elements that sequentially delay a measurement signal, and a TDC circuit including multiple storage elements that are provided corresponding to the multiple stages of delay elements and that store outputs of the multiple stages of delay elements in response to an input measurement clock, comprising: detecting a detection stage of the delay element that has detected at least a rising edge of the measurement signal based on switching of the outputs of the plurality of storage elements; a calibration signal having a cycle different from that of the measurement clock is input to the delay circuit of the TDC circuit, and a delay conversion table is generated relating to each detection stage of the delay element that detects a rising edge of the calibration signal and the delay amount of the delay elements of the multiple stages; a delay time of the measurement signal having a corrected delay amount by adding or subtracting a correction delay amount to the delay amount corresponding to the detection stage in the delay conversion table relating to the detection stage of the delay element and the delay amounts of the delay elements of the plurality of stages; Correction method.

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