Patent ID: 11920916
Assignee: META PLATFORMS TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
Field: Audio-visual technology (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC G  H | IPC G  H

Claim 0:
1. A detector comprising:
an array of pixels comprising a plurality of columns of pixels and a plurality of rows of pixels, each pixel including as single photon avalanche diode (SPAD) coupled to a comparator configured to generate a particular value in response to current generated by the SPAD included in the pixel from light incident on the SPAD exceeding a threshold value;
switches coupled to each SPAD pixel of the array,
an aggregator coupled to the switches, the aggregator configured to sum current received from SPAD pixels coupled to the aggregator by activated switches for each time instant to generate an analog output signal and to convert, for each time instant, the analog output signal into a digital timestamp signal associated with a time instant, the aggregator comprising a comparator coupled to each switch coupled to a SPAD pixel of the array and configured to combine current generated by SPAD pixels coupled to activated switches and to generate a specific value in response to the combined current exceeding a threshold value and a time to digital converter (TDC) coupled to the comparator and configured to generate a digital representation of a time when the time to digital converter received the specific value from the comparator.