US 11,835,659 B2
Time-of-flight apparatus and method
Qing Ding, Stuttgart (DE); and Ward Van Der Tempel, Muizen (BE)
Assigned to Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation, Kanagawa (JP)
Filed by Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation, Kanagawa (JP)
Filed on Feb. 14, 2020, as Appl. No. 16/791,584.
Claims priority of application No. 19157380 (EP), filed on Feb. 15, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2020/0264285 A1, Aug. 20, 2020
Int. Cl. G01S 17/10 (2020.01); G01S 7/4863 (2020.01)
CPC G01S 7/4863 (2013.01) [G01S 17/10 (2013.01)] 19 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A time-of-flight apparatus, comprising:
a light detector configured to detect light reflected from a scene as a light detection event, wherein the light detector has at least one light detection element; and
circuitry configured to:
store light detection events at only selected points of time for the at least one light detection element, the selected points of time being selected from among a set of predetermined number of consecutive times corresponding to a predetermined number of bins of a time-binned histogram, wherein selection of the selected points of time for acquiring the light detection events is based on a time compressive sampling of the light detection events and corresponds to selecting bins among the predetermined number of bins to activate for the time-binned histogram.